Luhrmann must have taken a cue from Hemmingway's memoir about Paris, A Moveable Feast, for that is exactly what he creates. His film is all about the senses, melodramatic sentimentality, and romantic ideals like truth, beauty and freedom that are difficult to fall for anywhere else.
It's not an unfamiliar story. Bohemian English boy named Christian (Ewan McGregor) goes to Paris for his art and meets courtesan Satine (Nicole Kidman) from the Moulin Rouge who's been promised to the rich duke. Boy and girl fall in love but are separated for the good of the show. Oh, and she's dying of consumption.
But it's the creative use of music and the singing that makes this film so enjoyable. From "Children of the revolution" and "Smells like teen spirit" to outtakes from "The Sound of Music" make this postmodern jambalaya an ode to opera, 50's musicals and MTV on its good days (and there aren't many of those).
As for the acting and singing, it's not bad. Ewan McGregor shines in yet another role and proves he has singing chops—his Elton John moment is quite poignant. Oddly, though, his clothes stay on in this film. Nicole Kidman is very good, and she holds her own vocally, though there are a few tense moments. Only John Leguizamo as Toulouse Lautrec is headache inducing. He's so over the top, even for this over the top film, that he's annoying. Toulouse Lautrec would turn over in his grave and have his can can dancers kick Leguizamo's ass.
The best scenes of course are the musical sequences. The "Elephant Love Medley" between Kidman and McGregor in her elephant shaped boudoir (a stone's throw from the Eiffel Tower, it turns out) is wonderful. The Police's "Roxanne" turns into a tango, where the images cut between the cabaret dancers playing out a jealous tango and Christian imagining the worst while Satine spends the night with the Duke.
The dreamlike, absinthe induced imagery is what makes this film so appealing. This is what daily life should look like. Unfortunately you can't always enjoy it because the editing is as choppy as the beginning of Saving Private Ryan. Luhrmann could easily have allowed some dazzling images to linger just a few seconds more.
Moulin Rouge is a great respite from reality based television and allows for a bit of dreaming in our sarcastic times.
Moulin Rouge review
