Spectacular, spectacular!

Rating: 10/10 (7 October 2001)

I'm not too fond of musicals, I don't like soppy love stories with predictable endings and I am not a frequent visitor of posh brothels either. Still, I was simply dazzled by Moulin Rouge.
The first fifteen minutes of the movie were very fast and flashy, almost music video-like. Some (middle aged) people right next to me in the cinema started shifting around their chairs uneasily, but I'm sure they got what they waited for after a short while anyway. I didn't mind the beginning at all, I thought it was a very clever way of portraying the chaotic and lively atmosphere in the famous nightclub.
After the initial chaos died down a bit, the viewer got a tragic love story about the poor English writer Christian (McGregor) who falls in love with the posh dancer Satine (Kidman) in the famous Parisian nightclub Moulin Rouge. However, she has to be the lover of a very rich duke who pays for the production of Spectacular spectacular, the new Moulin Rouge show. This is a story about a poor sitar player who falls in love with a courtisane, but she has to marry the wealthy maharadja. The parallel is clear, I think. Satine and Christian start a secret affair, but the jealous duke gets suspicious and does anything to stop the passionate love affair between the two. The premiere of Spectacular spectacular is a tragic climax of the love story: will Satine choose for the duke's money, or follow her heart for the first time and leave Moulin Rouge together with Christian?
It is not the story that makes Moulin Rouge such an interesting picture, it is in the incredible way it is told. Fabulous camera shots, interesting use of classic and modern pop songs (Madonna's Material girl and The Police's Roxanne will never be the same) and most of all, very good acting and singing of the two heroes, Kidman and McGregor. Never knew they could sing at all, so I was a bit sceptical about this aspect of the film beforehand. But I must admit I was quite impressed, particularly with McGregors efforts. Give 'em both and Oscar, and the person who cast Miss Minogue: give him two (for his guts).