Moulin Rouge

Released 2001
Stars Nicole Kidman, Ewan McGregor, John Leguizamo, Jim Broadbent, Richard Roxburgh
Directed by Baz Luhrmann

The film is constructed like the fevered snapshots created by your imagination before an anticipated erotic encounter. It doesn't depend on dialogue or situation but on the way you imagine a fantasy object first from one angle and then another. Satine, the heroine, is seen not so much in dramatic situations as in poses--in postcards for the yearning mind. The movie is about how we imagine its world. It is perfectly appropriate that it was filmed on sound stages in Australia; Paris has always existed best in the minds of its admirers.

The film stars Nicole Kidman as Satine, a star dancer who has a deadly secret; she is dying of tuberculosis. This is not a secret from the audience, which learns it early on, but from Christian (Ewan McGregor), the would-be writer who loves her. Toulouse-Lautrec (John Leguizamo), the dwarf artist, lives above Christian, and one day comes crashing through the ceiling of their flimsy tenement, sparking a friendship and collaboration: They will write a show to spotlight Satine's brilliance, as well as "truth, beauty, freedom and love." The show must be financed; enter the venal Duke of Worcester (Richard Roxburgh), who wants to pay for the show and for Satine's favors. The ringmaster is Zidler (Jim Broadbent), impresario of the Moulin Rouge.

The movie is all color and music, sound and motion, kinetic energy, broad strokes, operatic excess. While it might be most convenient to see it from the beginning, it hardly makes any difference; walk in at any moment and you'll quickly know who is good and bad, who is in love and why--and then all the rest is song, dance, spectacular production numbers, protestations of love, exhalations of regret, vows of revenge and grand destructive gestures. It's like being trapped on an elevator with the circus.

Summary by Roger Ebert

Spectacular, spectacular! This film is so bold and fresh, it's hard to believe it could be green-lighted by a major studio. I would have liked to have heard the pitch... "It's a 1950's styled musical set around 1900 in the famous theater/brothel, Moulin Rouge, and it features reworked songs from the 1970's through the early 1990's. Also, the budget will be about $50 million. When do we start shooting?" Yeah, right. It's refreshing to see studios are willing to take big chances like this, because "Moulin Rouge" is a real treat. The opening sequence was thrilling, but it started to wear out its welcome after 15 minutes or so. My senses could only handle so much before they started to cry uncle, but then the movie finds some quiet moments. It reminded me of Hair, because it also has a long opening sequence that scares off a lot of people before it settles into the story. While watching "Moulin Rouge" I kept noticing the elements of opera (the music and the overly melodramatic love theme), and I was surprised to see Luciano Pavarotti and Jose Feliciano listed in several songs in the end credits. I was also surprised to see Ozzy Osbourne credited as performing, because I didn't hear him. Another surprise is that Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman performed their own songs. This was surprising because of how outstanding Ewan McGregor was. Of course, my favorite moment was the Elephant Medley which has the chorus of KISS' "I Was Made For Loving You." --Bill Alward, January 19, 2002