The Show Must Go On

Moulin Rouge is a bizarre movie.

Reaffirming the belief that French culture is built upon sex, liquor, and spectacle, Moulin Rouge looks like an erotic absinthe-induced haze wherein the world spins with dancing girls and tuxedoed bohemians, often in multiple directions at the same time. From the first frame, the audience finds itself lost in a circus which delivers more than the flyer promised, but before long it gives in to the frenetic energy and romanticized grandeur of the Paris that exists only in the imagination.

Directed by noted lover of excess Baz Luhrmann, Moulin Rouge is a feast for the eyes. The story, which revolves around the star-crossed love between struggling writer Christian (Ewan McGregor) and star performer Satine (Nicole Kidman), is more or less standard boilerplate. But the romantic plot and thematic elements of “truth, beauty, and freedom” provide the vehicle for one of the most gorgeous visual treats cinema can offer. Using a palate primarily of deep reds and rich golds, beautiful and creative set pieces (the finale is particularly breathtaking), and an editing style that looks like Edward Scissorhands was in charge, the final product reminds us that film is above all a visual medium—it’s refreshing to see movies in which the foremost focus is imagery every once in a while. Perhaps a more apt title would have been that of the show-within-a-show Christian writes for the Moulin Rouge, Spectacular, Spectacular—because that’s certainly what it is. I have a sneaking suspicion that had the movie been in French and completely unintelligible, it would have been enjoyable all the same.

The glitter and glitz is complemented by an impressive score—a reworking of several famous pop songs. Although more than a few eyebrows may rise at the idea of Ewan McGregor singing “Your Song” or Jim Broadbent performing “Like a Virgin,” the film pulls off a certain ambiance that somehow enables it to get away with the act. Besides, the new arrangements render some songs unrecognizable (notably a tango-inspired version of “Roxanne,” a far cry from what The Police did with it), but all are nonetheless entertaining and fit seamlessly into the movie. The finished product is not so much a story on film as an experience in itself. Moulin Rouge accomplishes one of the highest goals of art—to take an intangible, incommunicable idea (the bohemian ideas of truth, love, and beauty!) and capture it on celluloid.