A fantasia of sight and sound

Rating: 5/10 (8 January 2002)

This movie was interesting to me and possessed a kind of quixotic charm, once I had got used to the frenetic noise and motion. It's very original and a hard film to classify, lying somewhere between a cartoon and an opera. Some of the music--cribbed from diverse sources--is very beautiful, particularly a rendering of "The Show Must Go On" by the character Harold Zidler (Jim Broadbent) and a chorus of seamstresses.
The introductory musical theme--based on "Nature Boy" from an old movie "The Boy With the Green Hair"--is a haunting and unforgettable melody made popular by Nat "King" Cole in the late 1940s. "Moulin Rouge" seems to want to pursue some obscure parallel with that earlier film by the use of green lighting on Christian's (Ewan McGregor's) own hair during one of the reprises, though I'm bound to say I couldn't detect much similarity between the two characters. (I watched it a second time to see whether there were any other such allusions, but if so, they were over my head.)
Nicole Kidman does a fine acting job. She is an exquisitely beautiful "Satine" and shows great courage, if perhaps not the best judgment, in singing her own songs. But that's okay; the movie is, after all, a celebration of "truth" (and better this than the abomination of Eliza Doolittle's dubbing). McGregor's singing voice, on the other hand, is a most pleasant surprise--somebody, give him a Grammy or something.
If you can overlook the noise and the freaked-out kinetics, and you don't require realism in effects or story, you might just like this flick very much. It offers two beautiful protagonists, some comic touches, and lots of heart. It's worth a look, and better the second time around.
5/10