"Moulin Rouge" -- Laissez Les Bon Temps Roulez by Homer Yen (c) 2001
Summer's most impressive visual spectacle has hit the theatres. But in this film, you won't find squadrons of bombers or capsizing battleships. Instead, you'll find a rhapsodic presentation that evokes the great Hollywood musicals of the 50s with sets that burst with vivid color, production numbers as showy as any Broadway spectacular, and a kinetic pace that patterns itself after hip MTV videos. And beneath all of this pomp, you'll also find a moving story about "truth, beauty, freedom, and love."
In the revisionist film, `Moulin Rouge,' story and song boldly come together in a film about a tragic love affair between penniless writer Christian (Ewan McGregor) and beautiful courtesan Satine (Nicole Kidman). These two meet at the fabled nightclub Moulin Rouge, where fantasies power its atmosphere of glitz and opulence. But when you return from your state of euphoria, reality is hurtfully cold.
No character is caught up more in this state of fantasy than the naive Christian, whom after befriending dwarf artist Toulouse-Lautrec (John Leguizamo), is given the rare opportunity to meet Satine. This encounter makes his heart sing, literally. He croons a love song to her delight ("I can see you're going to be bad for business," she says) but perhaps to the ambivalence of the audience.
Actually, McGregor, Kidman and the cast members can all competently carry a tune, but their renditions lacked brassiness or distinction. At other times, such as when our couple sings a medley of love songs to one another, the exercise seemed nauseatingly silly. Indeed some of the musical numbers bordered on kitsch (like the sales pitch set to the tune of the Can-Can to persuade a financier to invest) while other numbers seemed forced just for the sake of song. Yet, many selections were quite impressive and easily acquitted itself of this complaint such as the opening and closing numbers and a dark Tango set to Sting's "Roxanne."
Christian's state of euphoria may soon come to an end when he discovers that the investor (Richard Roxburgh) who agrees to finance his latest play also wants exclusivity to Satine. If she does not agree, then he shall also seize the property. Harold (Jim Broadbent), impresario and owner, asks her to hurt him for the sake of everyone involved. "We are creatures of the underworld," he laments. "We can not afford to love."
But their bond is unbreakable, which leaves our flustered paterfamilias making up brilliant lies when the investor begins to doubt her commitment. A terrific musical moment occurs when Harold explains to him that Satine has cancelled her date because she has gone to confessional and then breaks into Madonna's "Like a Virgin." His character is by far the most enjoyable of the cast.
While we gladly accept the songs and take interest in the love story, what really holds our attention, however, is the film's camerawork and inventive visualizations. The film's images frenetically display the pageantry of turn-of-the century Paris during the period when avant-garde artistry was at its heyday. The extravagant production ably captures its festive mood, from the tuxedo-clad clientele reveling at the nightclub to the melodramatic characters to a scene where our wildly-in-love couple dances on a cloud while serenaded by the moon. It's a fantasy of which we should all be a part.
Grade: B+
S: 2 out of 3 L: 0 out of 3 V: 1 out of 3
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews