Spectacular Spectacular, and totally worth it

Rating: 10/10 (23 September 2001)

Since I live in Holland this movie only started to appear in the cinema at the end of September, and since I have been waiting to see it since April or so, I already knew a lot about it. But nothing could prepare me for this.
I loved the opening, with the weird-acting conductor, and the theatre-curtains. The start of the movie was very funny; Ewan McGregor definedly has a talent for comedy. The one thing I didn't like was the part with the sound of music-lyrics, though I have absolutely no idea why. The scene where we first enter the Moulin Rouge-club is spectacular, so spectacular you don't know where to look first. I certainly liked the Nirvana-Smells like teen spirit-part. ----------------May Contain Spoilers---------------------------------- After Satine's confusion between Poor Writer Christian and the Duke, we get to see the lovely scene where Satine "gives it a try" and falls in love with Christian after he starts singing. When she discovers who he really is, the real duke of course enters. This eventually turns into a really weird scene, where Zidler, Christian and his friends, and Satine try (and succeed) to convince the duke that this is all a rehearsal, because he gave her so much inspiration. I loved this scene and I don't think any of the other scenes was close to being that funny.
Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor are both excellent singers and this of course, was the opportunity to try it out on screen. It works well. The elephant Love Medley is one of the most memorable scenes ever.
But as the movie loses its funny parts, it gets more thrilling. We see how tragic Satine's life actually is, and that it's not just the glitter and glamour. The Duke really acts childish sometimes and I don't think that there was anyone who couldn't see why Satine doesn't fancy him. Christian's line, "Because she doesn't love you!" still gives me goose-bumps. And after the really tragic ending, I feel like it was really worth waiting so long to see this movie.