The story in Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge! (and you leave the exclamation mark out at your peril) is Camille, the Dumas story that forms the basis of La Traviata and has been reworked numerous times. Luhrmann and co-writer Craig Pearce's take on the story is as distinctive as their 1996 Romeo and Juliet which starred Leonardo di Caprio. Having just seen the film I'm brimming with things to say and to stop it sprawling too much I'll address each aspect in turn.
Story An aspiring English poet, Christian (Ewan McGregor) sets up shop in fin de siecle Paris where he comes under the spell of the Moulin Rouge's star performer and courtesan Satine (Nicole Kidman). She is destined for the wealthy Duke of Monroth (Richard Roxburgh), a fate that is formalised when the owner of the Moulin Rouge Harold Zidler (Jim Broadbent) signs over exclusive access to Satine and the deeds of the venue in return for substantial investment that will transform the Moulin Rouge into a twentieth-century theatre. The intrigue centres around the conflict between the lover who will bring Satine fame, fortune and security and the man of her dreams who can only offer her love. For those familiar with the story of Camille the ending will be no surprise but for the sake of those who do not and have yet to see the film, it suffices to say that Satine's decision goes to the wire and concludes with an emotional climax. The simplicity of the story is misleading - as with Jesus of Montreal, real and fictional events entwine, commenting and reflecting one upon the other.
Performances Nicole Kidman is a revelation in this role, to the extent that her ex amour Tom Cruise was in Magnolia. Forget her qualified success in Eyes Wide Shut, this is closer to her smoldering stage presence in The Blue Room (another turn of the century classic, though set in multiple bedrooms across Vienna). In close-up she is alluring, bedecked in sumptuous costumes she evokes the poise of Hepburn at the height of her powers and in ensemble work she holds the camera regardless of the speed at which it tracks and pans through the giddy Parisian nightclub. Ewan McGregor is a perfect partner, one of the best displays of wide-eyed innocence since fresh-faced Guy Pearce in LA Confidential. The protagonists are well supported by Jim Broadbent as the theatre owner, Roxburgh as the rival lover and a great little cameo by Kylie Minogue as the Green Fairy (a euphemism for Absinthe, the notorious and oft-banned madness-inducing drink favoured by the Montmatre crowd). All the cast are required to sing and dance and they do so with a commitment and enthusiasm only surpassed by the director himself.
The cinematography This is no more a recreation of 1899 Paris than Coppola's One from the Heart is a realistic portrayal of 1980s Las Vegas. Both films, to varying degrees however, are an evocation of the spirit of the time and the place, shot through the distorting mirrors of remembrance and emotional entanglement. Luhrmann's nightclub is the beating heart of Paris; indeed, save for a faux Eiffel Tower (which reads like an oblique nod to the corny cinematic shorthand of including a shot of the monument as a token marker of location), we see nothing of Paris. Like the Caberet Voltaire, Studio 54 or the Cotton Club, it is the epicentre of a way of life and venturing beyond its walls only dissipates the heightened existence of its inhabitants. Just as in Ridley Scott's Gladiator, we are treated to sweeping shots across the metropolis (courtesy of some fine CGI and modelling) but they always originate from and return to the throbbing heart of the city, the Moulin Rouge. Extensive use of close-ups are offset by grand panoramas of writhing, choreographed bodies, part Busby Berkeley, part Bob Fosse.
Design Whatever the fate of the film in terms of the headline Oscars, there seems little doubt that it'll pick up a slew of awards for set and costume design. Where costume dramas usually drown in an orgy of period detail and painstaking authenticity, the design team here seem to have responded to a brief that simply required that they fill the screen with colour and incident befitting a decadent milieu. It is as much a nod to the spectacle of Hollywood at its most extravagant as anything else. Imagine Fantasia with real sets.
Editing Romeo and Juliet had some exciting post-production work that dispensed with realism in favour of making the drama leap out of the screen. Here, the music and choreography allow, even demand, that Luhrmann go further and, as with all other aspects of the work, he does not shy away from the task. Slo-mo, accelerated footage, rapid intercutting and daring cutaways (a lascivious, jiggling lacy red crotch, almost obscene out of context, seems entirely appropriate and an evocative encapsulation of the lure of the Moulin Rouge). The Roxanne medley owes much to Luhrmann's earlier Strictly Ballroom but is considerably more accomplished, meshing events and sentiments with dexterity.
The music I've left the best to last. When Ewan McGregor falteringly starts to sing "The hills are alive with the sound of music" the film hangs in the balance. A historical faux pas? A breaking of the illusion? Its like Ziyi Zhang's first flying leap in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, the moment when you think "OK, so the rules aren't quite what I imagined them to be". Get it wrong, place it in front of the camera in an apologetic, half-hearted manner and you've lost the audience. Get it right and you have broadened your palette, opened up new possibilities and can start calling the shots in the world you have created. Luhrmann gets it very right with his selection of contemporary songs sung by the characters, be it Bowie's Heroes, Madonna's Like a Virgin to name but two more extended borrowings, but the film is peppered by hooks from a panoply of songs, often only an instantly recognisable line (such as that from Whitney Houston's theme from The Bodyguard). Aside from the minor pleasure of recognition, this borrowing seems at once to look back (or forward from 1899) to Eliot's tissue of quotations in The Wasteland and forward (or back from 2001 to Umberto Eco) to the post-modern notion that even in our most earnest and heartfelt moments we recycle the sentiments already circulating in the culture. The quotations are simultaneously corny (they are by their very familiarity, cliches) and dense, carrying with them all the emotional intensity of the song. If a picture really does buy you a thousand words, then the exchange rate for song must be at least a couple of hundred. The Roxanne medley is just one instance where multiple songs are intermixed, joined, played against each other and the delivery by Jacek Koman is so reminiscent of Tom Waits (especially in One from the Heart). For all my enthusiasm for the music, it doesn't strike me as an immediate soundtrack purchase. The arrangements are stunning but they are not easily divorced from the film (and the album is a single CD where it really needs to be the length of the film to do it justice) and favours commissioned material from the great and good of the music industry over outings by the main characters. Still, if you are wondering what to get me for Christmas I wouldn't turn down the chance to hear Beck's Diamond Dogs cover or Kidman's One day I'll fly away, but chances are I'll buy the DVD to hear them as they should be.
Conclusion Luhrmann has made a brave and committed film, dripping with sentiment without veering into sentimentality. Romeo and Juliet was two hours traffik of the stage well worth anyone's money and Moulin Rouge rivals that claim and some. It is a big screen film so please don't hold out for the video. I've never gone out of my way to watch romantic or musical films, finding them by turns cloying, predictable and faintly ridiculous. This is as romantic and musical as film gets and I found it a complete joy.
More details
Story
Good
Special Effects
Outstanding
How does it compare to others by the same director?
Outstanding
Value for Money
What format are you reviewing?
Evaluate this review
How helpful would this review be to someone making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
total immersion cinema and while you're experiencing it ("watching" is too passive a word) you can't imagine that cinema could be for anything else. In the harsh, o...
total immersion cinema and while you're experiencing it ("watching" is too passive a word) you can't imagine that cinema could be for anything else. In the harsh, obj...
very helpful![Moulin Rouge -- Two-Disc Set [2001]](http://picnic.ciao.com/uk/65352008.jpg)
