Visually stunning, otherwise vacant

Rating: 6/10 (9 April 2002)

I really have mixed feelings about this one. It truly is a film like no other I have ever seen. The cinematography is absolutely incredible, no doubt about it; whatever artistic Oscars the film procured were well-deserved. The world that the film creates is stunning and the amazingly free movement of the camera solidifies spatial relations and brings the different locations together into a coherent whole. It really is fantastic work. That said, I didn't like--borderline hated--the film. The vast majority of "dialogue" is actually song lyrics (often rehashed) from familiar songs of the past 30 or so years. In this, it can be said that the film is often "catchy" and certainly caused the occasional smile, but really has nothing worthwhile to say. The plot would make Walt Disney jealous of its simplicity and really has nothing to add to the traditional "boy and girl want to be together but something's blocking the way". Perhaps it could be seen to be making a societal comment in its over-intentional hodge-podge of pre-existent ideas. At any rate, I guess I shouldn't be surprised that this formula still brings about success... But it was really irritating hearing the same trite, already-familiar lyrics repeated again and again. It was a musical melodrama pumped with so much false energy that I felt embarrassed for the actors at times and just wished it would stop. The acting of the two main characters was certainly average at best. The fact that Nicole Kidman was lauded for this performance truly makes me ill. But the incidental characters in the film were mostly much more solid and interesting, especially the "manager" of Moulin Rouge. I must wrap up: visually it's absolutely stunning and certainly worth watching, but it is emotionally vacant and meaningless.