We value Gérard Depardieu for making eloquence physical and vanity touching without excusing it. Cyrano de Bergerac gives his imposing presence something to do; his guest appearance in Hamlet shows how easily it can distract.
Fi1m perspective
In Cyrano de Bergerac (1990), Gérard Depardieu makes speaking verse look like another way of taking up space. The swagger and the appetite for an audience are there in the delivery, but so is a man ashamed of his nose. We were moved when that swagger faltered and the shame became plain. The vanity does not go away when he is hurting, and we would not want it to. Jean-Paul Rappeneau gives him room to be boastful, wounded and difficult, and gets a performance large enough for the romance.
The raw, anarchic everyman of his breakthrough, Les Valseuses (1974), came before the leading man of François Truffaut's Le Dernier Métro (1980). Jean de Florette (1986) brought an international breakthrough, followed by the classical verse of Cyrano de Bergerac. Directors including Maurice Pialat and Bertrand Blier worked with him repeatedly, a useful reminder that his career was built on sustained collaborations as well as conspicuous roles. The work extends across comedy, drama and literary adaptations. That movement towards classical material did not require him to become decorous.
Rappeneau's willingness to let Cyrano be ridiculous matters as much as his respect for the character's unhappiness. Depardieu makes the boasting entertaining before asking for sympathy, and his delivery leaves little doubt about the longing beneath it. Jean-Claude Petit's music sometimes presses for a response that the acting has already earned. Our reservation about Depardieu's dominance is more substantial: the other lovers struggle to hold our attention, although their place in the romance requires it.
Hamlet (1996) offers a smaller, less satisfying use of his presence. Kenneth Branagh's film holds our attention through clear speech and an interest in people beyond the prince, but Depardieu's appearance as Reynaldo briefly turns that attention towards the casting. The reservation concerns a conspicuous guest appearance in a film that otherwise succeeds through actors speaking plainly. We recommend the film, though it offers little opportunity to see what makes Depardieu worth following. Begin with Cyrano de Bergerac, if you can forgive a romantic hero who would be exhausting company.
Biography
Gérard Depardieu is a French actor. Born on 27 December 1948 in Châteauroux, Indre, he made his screen debut in the late 1960s and rose to prominence in the 1970s with roles including in Les Valseuses (1974).
He is known for his performances in Cyrano de Bergerac (1990), for which he received two César Awards for Best Actor across his career, the Cannes Film Festival award for Best Actor and an Academy Award nomination, and as Reynaldo in Hamlet (1996). Other credits include the Asterix and Obelix films (1999–2012) and La Vie en Rose (2007). He has also appeared in Hollywood productions such as Green Card (1990), for which he won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor.
Depardieu has received honours including Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur and the Ordre national du Mérite. He acquired Russian citizenship in 2013. He has faced multiple accusations of sexual assault and was convicted of sexual assault in one case in 2025, which he has appealed; he has denied wrongdoing in connection with the allegations.
