A Pleasant Surprise--possible spoilers

Rating: Null/10 (29 June 2001)

My wife and I just got back from seeing Moulin Rouge. She had been looking forward to it for quite a while--I, on the other hand, was a bit more skeptical. It also did not help when I went on to this database and saw the 'memorable quotes' were 99% pop song lyrics--I knew it was a musical, but it set me up to expect trite, unoriginal, dialog. So, I was going in with a bit of trepidation, wanting to like the film (who goes to a movie not wanting to enjoy it?) but cautious.
However, I was very pleasantly surprised. I left the theatre with the same feeling I had when I first saw 'Pulp Fiction'--not that they are at all similar in style, plot, themes, etc. (frankly, overall, 'Fiction' is a better film); but that both left me feeling as if I had witnessed something entirely new and exciting.
The cinematography, set design, and direction set up the dream-world atmosphere that was necessary for such a production to work. The 'tried-but-true' plotline and the use of modern pop-song lyrics as dialog would have come off as pure cheeze without it. The past and present mingle in a movie that works purely on the emotional level--the way most good musicals strive to do. It doesn't matter that the Moulin Rouge of 1899 would not have played modern dance music--it's the *feeling* the club invoked in its patrons that's important. Playing the actual dance music of 1899 would not have invoked those same feelings in a modern audience.

Within the first 10 minutes of the movie, you know that the affair will end tragically--but this knowledge takes nothing away from movie. It is the roller-coaster ride of the senses that drives this movie. The lovers do not end happily ever after, but having felt the love that they did, they do not regret having grasped it when they could ('the greatest thing you can ever learn, is to love and be loved in return')--and neither do you.

It was also fun trying to 'name that tune' as song lyrics popped out of the dialog or were disguised in musical styles alien to the original recordings. The 'Tango of Roxanne' was beautiful, as was the sweet simplicity of 'Your Song'. It was also good to hear 'The Show Must Go On' as the semi-operatic opus it is--Freddie Mercury would have been proud. The 'Like a Virgin' number was hilarious--I couldn't stop laughing and thinking of the chase scene in Rocky Horror during 'Hot Patootie'!
Overall, I was overwhelmed at the originality of the production and performances of the actors. This was not a movie to think about, it is a movie to experience--it is sensual, not intellectual. Moulin Rouge is not for everyone, but I was impressed in spite of myself and enjoyed it.