A post-modern masterpiece

Rating: 10/10 (22 November 2001)

`The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love & be loved in return': so begins `Moulin Rouge' as penniless Parisien writer & hopeless romantic Christian (McGregor) types & reads out the story as it at the same time unfolds before us. `My writing was interrupted' (he types & reads, & I paraphrase) `when an unconcious Argentinian fell through the roof' (cue said precipitation) `and a dwarf dressed as a nun ran into the room' (which he did).
Thus the scene is set for an audacious, dazzling, deconstructed & reconstructed, exhilarating romp of a film: a romantic tragedy, a musical that is at the same time old & new, as much an homage to times past as it is a herald of the 21st century.
It turns out that the 2 intruders (Koman as the narcoleptic Argentinian & Leguizamo as the painter Toulouse-Lautrec) were rehearsing a play called `Spectacular Spectacular' (itself a good description of the film, 1 of several play-within-a-play self-references), which Christian is promptly drafted in to rewrite. The play is to be shown at a can-can cabaret theatre, the `Moulin Rouge', where Christian meets & falls in love with the star turn, lady of dubious virtue & struggling wannabe Satine (Kidman). She's a Material Girl' who apparently will do anything for money & for the furtherance of her career, & who is attempting to seduce a rich Duke (Roxburgh) to that end. Christian attempts to turn her with nothing to offer but his undying love & a beautiful singing voice. Can he save the girl & win her heart from the cold evil Duke & his money? Will love save the day? The outcome isn't hard to guess  not least because it's announced in the opening scene  but then it isn't meant to be; this is not your average run-of-the-mill movie.
Visually this is absolutely stunning  the sets & costumes are impossibly colourful, lavish & detailed, the choreography inspired. The cinematography textbook has been thrown out here; the camera seems to have a life of it's own, panning & zooming manically, making a mockery of normal concepts of time & space, & giving us many post-modern sight gags along the way.
The cast is superb: McGregor to my mind is one of the finest actors to emerge out of Britain in recent years, & Kidman fully justifies her star billing. Broadbent, Roxburgh, Leguizamo & Koman give excellent support with really strong performances, & there's a great little cameo from Kylie Minogue as an Absinthe Fairy'. There are moments too of great theatrical power, chief of which to my mind (along with the climax) is the moment when Christian accidentally gives the game away to the Duke about his Hamletesque play-within-a-play; a really powerful scene. The film exudes an intoxicating energy from the opening scene to the stunning denouement, & is in turns exciting, uplifting, inspiring, energising, clever, funny, surreal, & profoundly moving.
The music itself is superb, & ranges from turn of the century vaudeville to Fat Boy Slim, Christina Aguilera & the queens of hip-hop, stopping along the way for opera, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Bollywood, The Beatles, T Rex, Bowie, Madonna, Nirvana, U2 & Beck  among many many others; the original music also is excellent. This is a music lover's paradise! Surpassing even the variety & quantity of the music is how it is used: often completely disparate types of music are meshed together seamlessly in a way that is clever, witty, highly original & simply exhilarating. For instance: a can-can type number sung by the Moulin Rouge cast alternates with the audience singing back lines from Nirvana's `Smells Like Teen Spirit': `here we are now, entertain us' etc.; Christian eventually wins over Satine in a conversation come musical duel comprised almost entirely of lines from pop songs  brilliantly imaginative & witty. The viewer is constantly surprised with the ever-changing musical landscape & at a time when so many films are extremely predictable for this alone `Moulin Rouge' deserves high praise.
The quality of the music is also outstanding, not in the least due to the vocal performances of the stars themselves. Kidman holds a tune extremely well & combines beautifully with McGregor - who is simply magnificent. His is a voice of such control, range, power, tone & expression that it is the equal of his considerable acting talent. His rendition of Elton John's `Your Song' is one of the most beautiful songs I have heard in a long time. Jim Broadbent, playing the theatre owner, adds his stentorian baritone, while Koman growls his way magnificently through a version of The Police's `Roxanne'  in duet with McGregor & a tango - that simply has to be heard to be believed.
`Moulin Rouge' is a truly modern musical; Luhrman has taken hold of an old & cliched genre, injected it knowingly with 21st Century irony, imbued it with great energy, imagination & talent; & has produced a post-modern masterpiece, one of the most audacious & original films seen in a very long time - & one for which he deserves every success. After all, to quote Christian & Satine (& Paul McCartney), `Some people want to fill the world with silly love songs  and what's wrong with that, I'd like to know?', & surely making love not war' has never been more appropriate than it is now. Love it or loath it - & you're sure to do one or the other  for any lover of film this is compulsory viewing.
Me? I've fallen in love. RATING: 10