New Opera for the New Century

Rating: 10/10 (21 September 2001)

Moulin Rouge! starts with a tell-tale scene of a conductor working himself in a sweat conducting an imaginary orchestra before large curtains.
Expecting a pseudo-historical romantic view of turn-of-the-century Paris, I got thrown into a turbulent vaudeville. Instead of a voyeuristic approach the director had the guts to actually throw me smack in the middle of the actual stage without so much as a warning.
At first I plucked my eyebrows but it was simply irresistible. Moulin Rouge! is loud, outrageous... and deeply moving.
The heart of the movie is a classic opera-style tale filled with romance, deceit, treachery and death. The form however is far removed from anything I have ever seen. The musical accompaniment is a skillful medley right across twentieth century music. What to think of a room filled with men in cylinder hats dancing to "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana?. If Verdi lived in our time, would this have been his approach? Who knows, and who cares. I could never get enough of this exuberant, rich and yet somehow sober performance.
The acting is excellent, with outstanding roles by Nicole Kidman and Jim Broadbent. The director is both ubiquitous and subtly withdrawn. Ubiquitous in the loving care that went into every detail. Withdrawn in the strict adherence to the self-set rules of the story and the way it is told. Not once do you tell yourself: "Hey wait a minute, this is a movie! I am sitting in a theatre, and this isn't real!"
The story is told in one long trait. At the intermission I actually felt like having had desert, and still had half the movie to go.
To finish off the compliments, the movie, besides being a real tearjerker, is simply great fun. You can't miss the scenes where the rotund theatre director sings "Like a Virgin". And it works!
Don't miss Moulin Rouge!