Authorship, creativity and the English subtitles of Rappeneau’s Cyrano de Bergerac

Subtitling is a highly specialised craft. It is rare that a well-known writer is given a subtitle credit. I analyse one such case, where Anthony Burgess was credited with the English subtitles for the 1990 film Cyrano de Bergerac . The article combines genetic and textual criticism, drawing on press and archival sources to show how the much-praised subtitles were also authored by Ian Burley, a British subtitler who adapted Burgess’s translation of the dialogue. I explore how the two translators’ creativity is manifested in the subtitles, arguing that both of their very different skillsets were necessary to produce the high-quality subtitles. This article complicates what we know about Burgess’s engagement with Cyrano de Bergerac , and shows for the first time how his subtitler credit for the film masks Burley’s important creative as well as technical contribution. The article underlines the crucial role played by high-quality subtitling in the film’s success.