"Moulin Rouge" (2001)

Rating: PG-13

Genre: Drama, Musical & Performing Arts, Romance

Directed By: Baz Luhrmann

Written By: Baz Luhrmann, Craig Pearce

Released: May 16^th, 2001 

Runtime: 126 minutes

Studio: 20th Century Fox

Summary:

Starring Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor, it is a musical set in the year 1899 about a young English writer named Christian who has come to Paris with the intention of following the Bohemian revolution taking hold of the city’s drug and prostitute infested underworld. He comes across the notorious nightclub, Moulin Rouge where he begins a dangerous love affair with the star dancer, Satine.... But the patron of the club, the Duke, also has his eye on her and is fully intent on getting what he wants.

Review:

Well, you can tell immediately it was directed by Baz Luhrmann. His distinct feel in a movie is evident from the word go. His chaotic-like mark is stamped immediately.  The shots move very swiftly as Christian begins to narrate his tale to us, the audience. The whole first scene is a bit bizarre, to say the least. Just as he sits down to his typewriter “an unconscious Argentinean” falls through the roof, “quickly followed by a dwarf dressed as a nun”. I have to say I find that his movies can be a bit disorientating during the first few scenes as you’re getting into the story and being introduced to the characters. Their dialogue here is quite rushed and each shot, as I say, moves really swiftly...which wouldn’t be my favourite attribute of his directing but nonetheless we get over that soon enough. All the characters so far, bar Christian, are all dressed in very bizarre attire and appear a bit surreal, if not outrageous. However, the fluidity of the story is good (considering the bizarre beginning) as, despite all this chaotic-feel, a plausible explanation is offered as to how he ended up at the Moulin Rouge. – He must step in for the unconscious Argentinean, and after having a bright idea, is dressed up as a professional writer so he can write their big play “Spectacular Spectacular”. The shots continue to move back and forth from present to past as Christian is typing his story for us to see. Of course, this is a musical, so once the decision has been made they decide to break open a bottle of Absinthe and break into song and dance for the next few minutes.

As the film begins to progress we are given fleeting shots of the activity within Moulin Rouge, just enough to give us a vague idea of what the film will entail, while also wetting our curiosity enough to keep watching.

The scene in which Satine (Nicole Kidman) is introduced is quite interestingly done. Up to this moment had been a completely chaotic and surreal montage of flamboyantly dressed dancers crowding the screen, each shot continuing to move at a very disorientating speed for the audience. But then suddenly everything stops up, everything is quiet and for a brief moment, actually calm. We’re given a far shot of her descending from the ceiling as confetti showers the floor and [silent] crowd, back to Christian and the dwarf who is explaining who this person is, then to a close up of Satine’s face as she is looking down and beginning to sing. We are made aware of her importance within the nightclub through the fact that for these few minutes, her voice is the only thing to be heard. Then she begins performing and the music starts up again with a cheering from the crowd and Christian’s narrations.

Then there’s a scene where Satine falls unconscious and falls from the ceiling into the middle of the crowd is well edited. As she ascends towards the ceiling on the swing-like-seat, an overview shot is given wherein she suddenly pauses at the last word of “Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend” and a close up shot is given as she gasps unexpectedly, breathing heavily, as everything slows down and becomes muffled before she collapses into the crowd, luckily being caught by one of the other dancers. Everyone is in shock and Satine is taken back stage, while improvisations take place to cover-up this unexpected turn of events. Everything remains muffled and in vague slow-motion as she is carried backstage, the music monotonous. An overview shot of her limp body is offered during this, which is clever as it seems to emphasise or further suggest the seriousness of what’s happened. She regains consciousness but proceeds to cough up blood. This is the first indication that all is not, perhaps, as fine as it might seem on the surface. Things have the potential to take a grave turn.

I’m not a fan of musicals, and this is no exception, but the soundtrack does have some well known songs such as Elton John’s “Your Song”, Christina Aguilera’s “Lady Marmalade”, and Marilyn Monroe’s “Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend”. While they did at times go off on a bit of a ramble singing, it didn’t feel completely off track like it can, but this is probably due to the setting and performing in a club such as Moulin Rouge would naturally require a great deal of singing and dancing.

It has to be said that Nicole Kidman is really great in this movie. One of her best, I would say. Ewan McGregor, while I haven’t actually seen any of his other movies so I have nothing to compare, plays Christian well too.

I don’t think this would be one of the best movies I’ve seen...but it is a fairly good movie just the same. I felt it could be just a bit too much at times, a bit too much in-your-face so to speak...Take out all the outrageousness though, (the “chaos”), and at the core of the movie you’ve got a pretty decent story.

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