Cyrano de Bergerac

Jean-Paul Rappeneau, 1990
137 minutes, color feature, subtitles
Ages 8 & up (battle scene at end with explosions and some blood)

With musketeers, witty word play, a confederacy of poets, and a story about who and why we love, the story of Cyrano de Bergerac is great for kids. This production features a spirited, soulful performance by Gerard Depardieu. Another great actor, José Ferrer, made a version in 1950 and there are numerous other versions. My 8-year-old had a little trouble keeping up with the subtitles, but there is plenty of action to keep a non-reading viewer interested, and those who don't follow the subtitles can still listen to the music of the rhyming couplets in French. Girl power alert: Roxanne, love object to two men, has little to do but in Act IV does dress up as a man during a fight with Spanish soldiers and sneak food to the French cadets.

A Note About Subtitles

Introduce subtitled movies early in your child's movie-viewing life (which should begin as late as possible) and don't make a big deal about it, is my unasked-for advice.

Most of the subtitled films I mention here are primarily visual and children can understand the story without reading. Some kids will be willing to read subtitles (if they are reading in general), some will just watch the images (fine), others will ask you to read (my husband and I take turns).

As they say, it's all good.

Except for the "English" option on DVDs. In my experience that is intolerable, but my 7-year-old did watch much of The Bicycle Thief with it turned on. Oh well, at least she saw the film.

The Bicycle Thief

Vittorio de Sica, 1948
93 minutes, black & white
Italian with English subtitles
Ages 6 or so and up

My 9-year-old was rapt watching the elegant, simple story of a man on a mission to find a stolen bike without which he can't work or feed his family. The life of the young son, so different from ours, was a good starting point for a discussion of postwar life, poverty, urban hardship...depressing, but it worked for us, and it's an accessible cinematic classic.
Good go-with: Marcovaldo, short stories by Italo Calvino, set during the same period and later, can definitely be enjoyed by children.