It is often said that love is a game. So, can love be planned or manipulated deliberately? The answer is yes, according to the 2010 romantic comedy “Cyrano Agency.” The movie borrows the idea that love, if played well, can be won eventually. It sounds like a whimsical idea, but many people may want to believe it.

Named after the 1897 French play “Cyrano de Bergerac,” the movie revolves around what Cyrano actually did in the play, namely, helping out people who have a secret crush but just don’t know how to win the hearts of those they admire. The Cyrano Agency in the film is a dating agency that offers hired cupid services for lovesick clients. The agency stages carefully-planned schemes, with the ultimate goal of helping their clients win the love of the people they desire. Of course, the intended targets should never know all the factitious arrangements. Under the motto, “Working in the shadows, staying out of the sun,” the company claims a success rate of 100 percent.

Things begin to twist when a young man named Sang-yong knocks on the door of the agency. He is a successful fund manager but is rather clumsy about dating. He says he is interested in a girl, Hee-joong, and asks for help from the Cyrano Agency. Byung-hoon, the head and mastermind of the agency, works out a plan right away. But it turns out the woman his client has fallen for is none other than Byung-hoon’s ex-girlfriend. There still remains a lingering feeling about the woman, and he decides to scrap the plan altogether. However, facing strong objections from the agency members, who never knew the relationship between their boss and the girl, Byung-hoon is left with a tricky dilemma. Will the dating agency’s new mission prove successful?

The protagonist, Byung-hoon, is reminiscent of Cyrano, a character from the French drama by Edmond Rostand. Cyrano expresses his love for a woman by writing letters to her in the name of his cadet, who is also in love with the same woman. Much like Cyrano, Byung-hoon helps another man find romance with a girl he had once loved and still cares deeply for. In the movie, the characters of the two men are developed so well that the viewers find themselves sympathizing with both.

The low-budget film was a sleeper hit of 2010, attracting more than 2.7 million viewers. It received much acclaim from movie fans and critics alike, with an interesting theme, humorous but heartwarming scenes and sharp dialogue. Impressive quotable lines from the movie include, “A couple who once broke up tend to break up again for the same reason even if they meet again” as well as, “Men are jealous of the ex-boyfriends of their girlfriend, while women are curious about the new girlfriends of their boyfriend.”

“Cyrano Agency” is a typical romantic comedy but the encounters and relationships described in the film are not exaggerated too much. On the contrary, the film features many episodes that most viewers may emphasize with. A film critic described the movie as a big cake of romance, decorated with humor, wit and laughter.