A "Spectacular, Spectacular" Romance

Rating: 10/10 (4 May 2020)

It all started in 1899 when Christian (Ewan McGregor), a young English poet, travels to Paris to pursue his writing career. Soon after arriving in Paris, he meets a group of Bohemians that talk him into writing a musical that would be performed at the Moulin Rouge, the most famous underworld night club in Paris. Later on, Christian had a meeting setup with Satine (Nicole Kidman), the courtesan of the night club. Christian meets with Satine and he falls head over heels in love with her, as she does him, but there was one small problem. Satine was told by Harold Zidler (Jim Broadbent), the club's owner, that she was meeting with the Duke (Richard Roxburgh). The Duke was interested in investing in the club and to make Satine a real actress for a small price, to have Satine in his possession forever. Satine was thrilled to have fallen in love with the Duke, until she realized it was not him, instead she had fallen for a penniless writer.
Love is the central and most powerful theme of Moulin Rouge. Not only is it shown between two people, but it is also shown with Satine and the other dancers at the Moulin Rouge. They are all in love with the thought of being real stars one day that they will do anything to get there, including work in a night club. The director of the movie does a wonderful job making love the central theme with lighting and angles. The lighting dims around the background activity and extra lighting goes onto the characters during intense romantic scenes. Also, the director films at many different angels in the movie. He switches between first person angles and third person angles. He does this to allow you to not only feel the main characters emotions, but you also get to feel the background characters emotions. The movie, Moulin Rouge, will take you on a crazy journey of love and grief, and will have your eyes glued to the television the entirety of the film.