A love story like every other which is like no other

Rating: 10/10 (3 June 2005)

I think what I said above just about sums Moulin Rouge! perfectly. It is a love story like every other love story, but it is like no other love story.
A paradox? Maybe, but that's exactly what this movie is.
Firstly, let me just say that to fully enjoy this movie, you have to have an open mind. Forget reality and forget conventions. Moulin Rouge! isn't about reality and is as unconventional a movie as can be. Stop trying to "understand" it, and eventually, you will understand it.
Secondly, you must be warned that it's a love-it-or-hate-it kinda movie. You're either a huge fan of the movie and have everything from the 2-disc special edition DVD to your own MR! t-shirt, or you hate it so much that you just want to point a gun to the character's heads.
Don't listen to everything critics say. They are most likely the ones who hate this movie, as they spend a whole lifetime trying to "understand" movies, and when one like this comes along, they don't know what to do with it. They give it 0/10 before even giving it a second chance. A typical case of prejudice. You are not them, and so you at least owe it to yourself to give this movie a try.
Now, let's talk about the actual movie. Moulin Rouge! is simply everything a movie should be. It has comedy. It has action. It has romance. It has drama. It has every filming style imaginable, from Disney to Bollywood. It is old vs. modern. I mean, which other movie has beautiful computer visual effects (some of which are reported to be the longest in movie history!) yet also has the old "hand-made" style of film-making, with unusual (and even wobbly) camera angles, on purpose? Which other movie has men in top hats singing Nirvana and beautiful courtesans singing Randy Crawford songs?
The plot in itself is a run-of-the-mill love story, taken from the operas "La Boheme" and "La Traviata", taken from Dumas' "La Dame aux Caméllias". Christian (Ewan McGregor) is a young, middle-class writer who wants something new in life. He wants to write a brilliant novel with a beautiful love story at the heart of it. The only problem is... he has never been in love. Stuck in a rut in London with his overly-religious father, he decides to move away to Paris, the city of love, to become part of the Bohemian revolution. After an accident involving a Narcolpetic Argentinian, a very sweet and apologetic Toulouse Lautrec (John Leguizamo) and a falling roof, he meets a group of kind-hearted Bohemians who believe he is the one to help them write a show they are currently in the process of. The show is extremely important to them because it is a show all about their ideals of Truth, Beauty, Freedom and Love. However, they have other plans for it: they want to show it to the new financier of the Moulin Rouge, a Duke (Richard Roxburgh), whom they hope will agree to fund the conversion of the famous nightclub into a theatre. Now with a new writer for the show, the Bohos need a star for it. They immediately think of the Moulin Rouge's beautiful, top courtesan Satine. Before he can say "The hills are alive with the sound of music", Christian is off to the Moulin Rouge to convince Satine to be in the show. He sees her performing her rendition of "Diamonds are a girl's best friend" and is immediately head over heels in love with her. The only problem is, Satine is needed elsewhere. At the same time, on a table nearby, the Duke is waiting for Satine to finish her show. However, the Bohos had told Christian that Satine would meet with HIM after the show... and you can guess what happens next... yep, you've got it... Satine mistakes Christian for the Duke!
Alone in her boudoir with Christian, inside an Elephant, Satine tries flat out to seduce this Duke who is actually Christian. Christian's Orphean soul makes Satine fall in love with him as he sings his own rendition of "Your Song". However, after finding out that he is in fact NOT the Duke, Satine tries to take back all the feelings she had. However, true love is not like that, and before you know it, they're kissing passionately on top of the Elephant. Another thing about true love is that it's unmistakable to miss, and before long, everyone else at the Moulin Rouge finds out about Christian and Satine's affair... apart from the Duke. To keep the Duke out of the know, Satine still has to seduce him and the night comes when she has to sleep with him... but she can't do it as she cares too much about Christian, and then it builds into a heart-wrenching climax... you'll have to watch the movie to see what I mean!!