A spectacular saga of star-crossed lovers comes to the big screen in Cyrano de Bergerac.
We open at the Hotel de Bourgogne, where a production of Clorise is about to begin, featuring the famed Montfleury (Gabriel Monnet). However, some in the audience, including pastry-cook Ragueneau (Roland Bertin), are expecting a very different show tonight, as the infamous Cyrano de Bergerac has warned Montfleury not to perform on stage for a month. Sure enough, as the play begins and Montfleury begins his performance, de Bergerac (Gérard Depardieu) makes his appearance, bullying the poor actor off the stage. Cyrano's not done making a scene, however, as he bawls out a poor shmuck he thinks is staring at his overly large nose, which Cyrano is very sensitive about - and God help you if you dare make a crack about it. The snooty Vicomte de Valvert (Philippe Volter) unwisely decides to do so, merely to be a jackass. The joke isn't a very good one, and Cyrano engages in an epic monologue about all the different ways Valvert could have made fun of him before swords and drawn and a duel commences, Cyrano composing a poem as they fight. The fight ends very badly for Valvert, much to the annoyance of the Comte de Guiche (Jacques Weber), who was trying to marry him off to Cyrano's beautiful cousin Roxane (Anne Brochet) - mostly so de Guiche could make Roxane his mistress, since he's already married.