Visually sumptuous, but with little else

Rating: Null/10 (28 September 2002)

Nicole Kidman is Satine, the harlot with a heart of gold, the star of the nightclub of dreams, the Moulin Rouge. Christian (played by Ewan McGregor) is the idealistic English poet who falls in love with her. A typical boy meets girl, boy loses girl story.
This is the type of film that depends on visual splendor rather than on depth.
The costumes and sets are all flashy Hollywood glamour. The color and visual lushness are utterly dazzling and mesmerizing, but you're barely given time to `ooh' before the camera cuts away. The sweeping, speeding cinematography and quick cuts give the film a glib, circus-ring-meets-music-video sort of appeal.
However, the film fails to slow down its break-neck pace when in the proper places. So the love story is given unfortunate short shrift. The plot lurches between tragedy and comedy so abruptly that neither are believable. The tragedy is contrived and forced, while the comedy comes off as cartoonish.
The acting is harder to comment on. Nicole Kidman's acting is decent, her singing passable, and Ewan McGregor has seen better acting days. But there is little chemistry between these actors at all. The two leads are both talented, but this is NOT a movie about characterization and depth. So, sadly, these actors aren't given much to work with. With such little character depth, it makes it harder for the audience to feel any empathy.
And herein lies the movie's most frustrating aspect: its absolute inability to induce true emotion from the audience by allowing us to sympathize with these characters.
Christian is merely identified by his love for Satine, which is possessive, nearing on the obsessive. But as far as the audience can tell, there is no concrete basis for their relationship. Belt out a rendition of Elton John's `Your Song' and Christian's got the girl. It left me to question Satine's supposed conviction not to fall in love if she could be so easily ensnared.
This film had so much potential for rot-beneath-the glitter story, but instead it resorts to showy glitz and glamour to attract an audience.
Vibrant, visually opulent, but lacking in the essential elements of a cinematic excellence: solid plot or characterization. All frosting and little cake.
It's a bit like a bubble--it's very pretty on the outside, but there's not much substance underneath.