I Might Not Be Musically Inclined But.

Rating: 4/10 (9 February 2002)

I am going to compare `Moulin Rouge' with `Shakespeare In Love' because both of the movies are about a struggling young man and a stunning(and stunningly skinny) beauty sought by a wealthy and callous other man. Both movies are about the love between a writer and a performer within a play. And both movies represent young love with physical passion and sexy young stars. I admit, the movies cannot be compared in movie making ability, because the styles are so different (MR is more creative visually and stylistically, but SIL is more creative with language, and incorporating-and changing history), but they can be compared on their representations of love. SIL actually is better at showing true love than MR. SIL's love affair makes MR's look like over-dramatic puppy love.
First, the scenes between Christian and Satine in MR don't display as much love on a intellectual-as well as physical level-as the scenes between Viola and Shakespeare. Viola's intellect is comparable to Shakespeare's. Viola is actually more realistic than Shakespeare. She realizes-before him-that she can cherish what she has with Shakespeare forever, but must marry Wessex in order to allow Shakespeare to continue to create what they both love-plays. Indeed, their love is based on a greater love. In MR, Christian seems somewhat educated, but Satine doesn't even realize that coughing up blood means you are going to die-especially without treatment. Not that Viola and Shakespeare give the impression of intertwined souls, but Christian and Satine just seemed like merely horn dogs who substitute dramatic posturing for love and still think it's the same thing. Viola and Shakespeare really cared about the play they were creating; they truly wanted to create something together that other people would truly care about. Christian and Satine created a half-baked play to bolster Satine's career and protect their affair from the duke's immense `intellect.' Both Christian and Shakespeare were on deadlines but Shakespeare actually cared what he was writing about.
I guess one could argue that Christian and Satine shared a love for the Moulin Rouge, since they were only shown to love another within the vicinity of the Moulin Rouge. But that means that Viola and Shakespeare's love was even more varied. They not only love each other in the playhouse and Viola's bedroom, but outside a church and beside a river. They did not need a certain surrounding to support their love. Shakespeare didn't care if Viola looked like a woman when he kissed her either. That either shows true love-or Shakespeare was really horny or kinky or both.

Another argument is that love cannot include jealousy. The Bible does mention that love is not envious. Shakespeare is never jealous when Viola is involved. (He is only jealous of Marlowe.) He knows she loves him and not Wessex. What says more about love than when a person trusts the person they love enough not to be jealous? In MR though, Christian gets jealous of the Duke because he doesn't trust Satine's love for him. (Which is incredibly stupid of him because why would Satine even like a dolt like the Duke? Maybe Christian and Satine are an intellectual match after all.)
Another thing-Viola wanted to act because she loved it. She didn't even care about the recognition because she acted under the name of Thomas Kent. Satine on the other hand, wanted to act to be a `star.' Which character shows more true love and passion? (This argument assumes people think passion for oneself is not as noble as passion for creativity and other people.)