Moulin Rouge

• Title:  Moulin Rouge
• Director:  Baz Luhrmann
• Date:  2001
• Studio:  20th Century Fox
• Genre:  Musical, Romance
• Cast:  Nicole Kidman, Ewan McGregor, Jim Broadbent, Richard Roxburgh, David Wenham (Cameo)
• Format:  Color, Widescreen
• DVD Format:  R1, NTSC

"The greatest thing you'll ever learn is to love and to be loved in return."

"You expect me to believe that scantily clad, in the arms of another man, in the middle of the night, inside of an elephant, you were rehearsing?"  -- The Duke

"Hurt him to save him.  There is no other way.  The show must go on, Satine.  We are creatures of the underworld, we can't afford to love."  -- Zigler

Moulin Rouge is an incredible, incredible film.  The color, music and dancing all reflect a surreal, hyper-reality feel.  Yet the story is a simple story about love -- an impossible love.  Christian is a young naive Englishman who makes his way to Paris, to the heart of  the Bohemian Revolution to become a writer and experience love.  He quickly falls in with a group of  Bohemian artists, and is chosen to write their new show.  Needing backers, they go to the Moulin Rouge and Howard Zigler, and his head courtesan, Satine.

Through a misunderstanding, Christian meets Satine, and they fall in love.  However, Zigler needs money to convert his nightclub and bordello to a real theatre.  He promises Satine to the Duke.  The Duke even gets Zigler to sign over the deeds on the Moulin Rouge to him.

Satine is shocked to discover the man she's really falling in love with isn't a rich Duke after all, but a penniless Bohemian writer.  The plot revolves around their love triangle -- Christian and Satine and Satine and the Duke.  And the question is:  Will Satine, a Courtesan, choose true love with Christian or go for the money she can get from the Duke (which Zigler also encourages, since he'll lose the Moulin Rouge if she doesn't).  The love triangle is even built into the show that Christian is writing to debut on the new stage of the Moulin Rouge.  It may seem like a simple and traditional plot -- but what pulls Moulin Rouge out of  the commonplace is it's style and look.  A style that's surreal, hyper-reality, more real than real.  And Ewan McGregor as Christian and Nicole Kidman as Satine really do give the performances of their lives.  And my gosh can they both sing!

The majority of  the music in Moulin Rouge is modern music.  Rather than keeping to a historical look and feel to the film -- Baz Luhrmann goes completely in the opposite direction -- accentuating the way it would feel to someone in 1899-1900 to be in such a remarkable place.  The opening dance number is a whirl of  lights, color, movement and loud music.  One knows this won't be your typical musical when the can can girls and the men in white ties and black tails are singing and dancing to "Smells Like Teen Spirit".

Satine's song that she performs as a courtesan is a medley of  "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" and "Material Girl", though the song she sings when she's on her own is, "I'll Fly Away", because her ambition is to be a real actress - or at least to get out of  the Moulin Rouge.  Christian first courts her with Elton John's "Your Song", but he's most impressive with the song he writes for her, and the only original song in the film, "Come What May".  (Though "The Pitch/ Spectacular Spectacular" could be argued as original - only the lyrics are, the music is The Can Can.)

But it's surprising and even amusing to hear the modern music in the film, though the mood always fits.  "Elephant Love Melody", for example, is an argument between Christian and Satine where they throw lines from romantic pop songs at each other.  Zigler gets to sing "Like a Virgin" to the Duke, when he's trying to come up with an excuse as to why Satine has missed a date.  There's also a very impressive Latin Tango done to "Roxanne".  And many others.  It's also common for lines of dialogue in the film to be quotes from famous music (Christian even gets his writing job by quoting "The Sound of  Music").  Yet, somehow, it fits, it's like when you and your friends quote lines from movies you've seen or books you've read.  Christian, Satine, and even Zigler quote lines from music.

There are also some remarkable special effect sequences in the film - and as showy as they are, it merely emphases the point at the time.

But the most remarkable aspect of  this musical is the end - it really is astounding and surprising.  I've seen this film now several times and I always enjoy it and appreciate it more with every viewing.

Recommendation:  See it!
Rating 5 of  5 Stars
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