beautiful, fantastic, breathtaking... shallow

Rating: Null/10 (2 October 2001)

I love this film. It is amazing to watch. A string of superlatives that ringed the globe could not come near to describing it.

Being a dancer, I loved the dance scenes (some of my friends were in them), they were unbelievably good. Very passionate and over-the-top, wonderful to watch.
I loved the way Baz mixed current and past culture in so many ways - it made what could have been a period film into a relatable entity for so many people.
The costumes in this film were remarkable as were the sets and effects, I could go on and on and start to write (probably really bad) poetry, that's how moving the visuals in Moulin Rouge were.
HOWEVER I have one complaint: I did not cry. I was not moved by this film. It is an easy thing to do - I'm an emotional person, I walk into the cinema looking for opportunities to be swept away and moved inside by the production. Not in this movie though. The fundamental problem, for me, was the love affair. The love was not deep enough, they had not shared enough, their love had not really been tested enough for me to believe in it. Oh sure there was the Count, but he was a cartoon character - to ridiculous to be believably evil. I could not see him as a serious threat to the love of Satine and Christian.
So there's my complaint. I couldn't cry at the demise of a love that was really too insubstantial to begin with.