MOULIN ROUGE A
USA Australia (126 mi)
2001 ‘Scope d: Baz
Luhrmann
If ever there were a movie that was created with Blu-ray in
mind, this is it, as this is a kaleidoscope fusion of music and color that
explodes off the screen, delighting viewers with the scandalous opulence of a
tantalizingly seductive musical. This
has all the magnificence of Broadway come to the screen, among the most
extravagant visual spectacles ever made, yet it’s all underscored by an
old-fashioned love story that also gets the small details right, especially the
small snippets of lyrics from popular songs that elevate the dizzyingly
emotional love scenes. Shot by John
McAlpine using the brightest, near hallucinogenic use of colors, the Bollywood
style stage presence of beautifully choreographed frenzied excess, luxurious
costumes with exaggerated use of makeup and wigs, and a set design like none
other that you’ve ever seen, so elaborately detailed and wildly
expressive. Set in the bohemian district
of Montmarte in Paris in 1900, we zoom into the city with the cutesy style of
AMÉLIE (2001), hovering among the rooftops overlooking the Moulin Rouge
nightclub where John Leguizamo as Toulouse-Lautrec is perched wondering what to
present for his next show, but the narration is being described by a man seen
inside a window with a typewriter, Ewan McGregor as Christian, a struggling
writer who has moved there to be caught up in the spirit of revolution, where
all that matters is “truth, beauty, freedom, and most of all, love.” When Christian stumbles upon Toulouse-Lautrec
at a rehearsal session where they are conceptually stuck, he brilliantly
resolves the writer’s block by singing “The hills are alive with the sound of
music…” The tone is set, as immediately
he is welcomed into the fraternity of fellow bohemians.
What he discovers is a scandalous burlesque and dance review
featuring scantily clad women in neon colored costumes dancing the French Can
Can that would rival the Roman Circus for decadence in a show called
“Spectacular Spectacular.” Enter Nicole
Kidman dressed only in lingerie and a hat lowered on a trapeze bar singing
“Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” in her most breathy Marilyn Monroe
imitation. Satine is the star of the
show, the sexiest, most alluring woman known as the “sparkling diamond,” the
highest paid courtesan in Paris. To save
the show, as the club is going bankrupt, she is urged by the master of
ceremony, Jim Broadbent from Mike Leigh’s TOPSY TURVY (1999), to use her
feminine charms to get a pompously overdressed rich Duke (Richard Roxburgh) to
invest in the show. But she mistakes the
poor starving writer for the aristocratic Duke, which leads to a comedy of
errors and misdirection. His mind
grasping in desperation, knowing he’s about to lose the girl, Christian breaks
into song, a quietly affecting rendition of Elton John’s “Your Song.” Like a deer in the headlights, she is struck
by the emotional allure of the song, which leads to a spectacular rooftop romance
fantasia where they do a tribute to the umbrella sequence from SINGIN IN THE
RAIN (1952), only here they dance engulfed in a sea of fog cast in a blue
light, which eventually turns animated, dancing under the moon next to the
Eiffel Tower in a picture postcard image of Paris. Like magic, one song and they are in
love. Once she discovers his real
identity, confusion ensues as she then has to meet the real Duke, who she now
has no interest in and must steal away all waking hours with her new love while
lying and concealing this scandalous affair from the Duke. What follows are more enchanting love songs
sung from the rooftop of Satine’s giant elephant shaped bedroom, each using a
line from a popular love song to create a surge of emotional fascination with
the idea of love, as it is beautifully explored through song lyrics. This technique would later be used in Julie
Taymor’s ACROSS THE UNIVERSE (2007) where the lyrics from Beatles songs
actually tell the narrative throughout the entire movie. Luhrmann brilliantly uses this device
throughout the film, using a varied selection of lyrics from Nat King Cole’s
“Nature Boy” to Kurt Cobain’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” from Madonna’s
“Material Girl” to the Beatles “All You Need Is Love” to Dolly Parton’s
heartfelt “I Will Always Love You,” all to wonderful effect, as he cleverly
mixes the mood with the visual enchantment onscreen.
Once we see where this is heading, right out of French
literature or opera, as Satine, like Camille or Mimi in La Bohème, is dying of
consumption, so what becomes immediately apparent is not only can the Duke not
have her, but no one can, as she’s covering up the fact she is near death. But the Duke grows fanatical and deliriously
enraged when he realizes he’s been made a fool of and insists upon conditions
that force the hand of the actors, using threats of violence as well as his
insistence of taking over the theater.
Still, making a fool of him is one of the more delicious aspects of the
film, filled with humor and cleverness.
Without it, the film drags near the end and runs into a more contrived
finale that seems to go on forever, with Luhrmann never finding the right
ending, so he keeps throwing more at the audience. Kidman is sensually vulnerable throughout,
yet also a sexual force, so her strength of character is vital to this film,
while McGregor is a wide-eyed idealist where love is literally sweeping him off
his feet, where from one moment to the next, song lyrics just keep flying out
of his head. The two are positively
enchanting together, and with that core of authenticity, all that excessive
Bollywood window dressing that’s meant to dazzle the senses with
hyper-saturated colors, inventive set designs, and a wonderful neverending
energy just leaves the audience overwhelmed yet yearning for more. This is the film NINE (2009) needed to be but
wasn’t, falling flat with its own disinterest.
Luhrmann’s film on the other hand is constantly reinventing itself,
finding astonishing ways to continually find the emotional resonance of a
simple love story, seemingly simplistic and overdone, but given an entirely new
vision here that continually mixes moods from psychedelic to comedic farce to
delirious spectacle to rock “n” roll, an unapologetically artificial dreamworld
that holds up over time by remaining outrageously inventive and alluringly
spectacular.
