The Show Must Go On

Rating: 10/10 (30 May 2008)

Early in 2001, Australian auteur Baz Luhrmann followed up his modern adaptation of Romeo & Juliet with an even greater cinematic accomplishment. Moulin Rouge is set at the end of the 19th Century in 1899 (the 'summer of love'). The writer Christian (Ewan McGregor) sits at his typewriter in a grungy Paris loft, typing out the story of the life and death of his love Satine (Nicole Kidman). Thus from the very beginning we pretty well know where the story is going but how we get there is really something else.
Moulin Rouge is what's known as a 'jukebox musical.' It takes a selection of well-known popular songs and alters them (musically and lyrically) just enough to fit the story as needed. In this film, the purpose of this is two-fold. First the pop-songs communicate the foreign and dated culture that is portrayed in a way that the audience can understand. In the early dance hall scenes, we hear not gaudy horns, but the songs of Madonna, Nirvana and Patti Labelle, among others - the idea being that our reaction to them should be similar what the Frenchmen would have felt upon hearing the dance hall music of THEIR time. Second, the protagonist Christian is established as an incredible poet, as he has the ability to instantly spin off the greatest poetry of the 20th Century (in a time before it was ever actually written, of course). Thus he helps the dwarf Toulouse-Lautrec and a narcoleptic Argentinean write their modern Bohemian play 'Spectacular Spectacular' and then, at the Moulin Rouge, woos Satine with his rendition of Elton John's 'Your Song.' However, Satine has been promised to an evil English Duke, in exchange for funding for the Moulin Rouge. The Duke catches Satine with Christian, but they swiftly explain that they are rehearsing a play, the plot of which exactly mirrors what is going on in their own lives.
Which of the two Satine ends up with should come as no surprise. This is a film whose strength lies in style, not in unusual plot twists. The imagery is dazzling and often surreal; the music is densely layered and incredibly well harmonized. At times we hear up to four different pop-songs being played at once. The pace of the musical scenes is breakneck and there is likely more cutting than in any GOOD movie ever made. The film is also unapologetically silly at times, featuring cartoon-like motions and sound effects.
Admittedly, the ending is kind of a downer. Not only is Satine dead of tuberculosis, as we have known from the beginning, but we are left with the impression that the time of those oft-mentioned Bohemian ideals of Freedom, Beauty, Truth and Love will soon be swept aside by the tides of war. In fact, one early version of the script had Christian telling his story, not from his typewriter, but while dying in the Fields of Flanders. That would have really been too much and was wisely changed.
For outstanding (and Oscar-winning) costumes and art direction, a great ensemble performance and sheer frenetic energy, Mouling Rouge makes my top 10 list.