Quite simply the best original film musical in decades (certainly in my lifetime), Moulin Rouge is a novel, inventive take on the genre which deserves to become a classic, and will no doubt inspire a number of imitators. The past few years have seen several attempts at using existing songs in a new musical context (Everyone Says I Love You and Love’s Labours Lost are the most obvious examples), but this is the most successful of these. A bizarre variety of styles and sources make it into the mix, but it strangely works, so first kudos in this opinion must go to the team of musical directors and arrangers who make songs like Your Song and Material Girl fit seamlessly into a turn of the century setting.

The plot is an original one, though it bears echoes of sources as diverse as La Traviata (finding true love while dying of causes I shan’t mention here) and Cabaret (struggling writer falls in love with decadent showgirl) with a healthy dose of 1940’s musicals (the show really must go on). However, all of these are given a new twist, particularly the latter. It’s not simply a case of the show must go on because the show must go on, but for a much more sinister and realistic set of reasons. For some in the Moulin Rouge there are reasons other than the glory of art for doing the show, and eventually it becomes quite literally a matter of life and death. A far cry from the embodiment of truth, beauty and love which the bohemian creators of the show are striving for.
If you’re looking for me to tell you what Moulin Rouge is ‘about’, then I’m afraid I’ll have to disappoint you. It’s about love, yes, and it’s about art, corruption and idealism but there is no big theme or message immediately obvious. Which is, believe it or not, a good thing. The film is a slice of life (albeit an odd, somewhat stylised slice) with a story about people, feelings and actions. No preaching, to the converted or otherwise.
A quick plot summary to avoid potential confusion: a writer (Christian, Ewan McGregor) comes to the Bohemian area of Paris and is co-opted to script a show intended for the Moulin Rouge. Through a wee misunderstanding, he gets seduced by the star of the nightclub, courtesan Satine (Kidman), and she finds herself falling in love with him. Unfortunately, the new sponsor of the Moulin Rouge (an English Duke) makes sole possession of her one of the clauses of his support and things get somewhat out of hand, with rampant jealousy from both men leading to an…interesting opening night.

Anyone who’s come across some of my opinions before will know that I love the musical genre in film and theatre and so it is on the musical segments which I will concentrate the remainder of this opinion – well, some of them. There are a number of numbers (if you see what I mean) which are over as soon as they are begun, such as the rendition of The Sound of Music which gets Christian the job of writing the show, and others which didn’t make a particularly large impression on me. The others I’ll talk about.

- Kidman and McGregor get two major duets. One of these is a medley of love songs strung together with amusing effectiveness, and the other is a song which Christian writes for the show in order to remind Satine that he loves her ‘Come What May’. This is a new song on me, but it’s probably familiar to everyone else in the entire world. Very good though, and they duet in lovely harmoniousness.