Opinion

Moulin Rouge!

Dir: Baz Luhrmann
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Ewan McGregor, Jim Broadbent

"We are creatures of the underworld. We dare not fall in love."

In 1899, the Moulin Rouge is the heart of Europe's Bohemian revolution, and English writer Christian has recently arrived, determined to write and live according to the Bohemian principles. Falling in with a group of artistes developing a new show for the Moulin Rouge, Spectacular, Spectacular, he finds himself unexpectedly to be the proposed new writer of this show, as long as he can persuade the club's leading lady, Satine, of his talent. Unfortunately, Satine thinks that she is meeting The Duke, a prospective investor who can pay for the conversion of the club into a theatre, and launch her own career as a legitimate actor.

On practically every level, Moulin Rouge! scores, and scores heavily. The physical realisation of the story represents as great a leap for director Luhrmann as his previous Romeo and Juliet was from Strictly Ballroom. The staging is sumptuous, colourful, and at times almost overwhelming. The story, by Luhrmann and Craig Pearce, although essentially fairly simple, incorporates clever use of parallels between the story of Spectacle, Spectacle and the developing love between Christian and Satine. The use of modern songs, ranging from The Sound of Music, through Children of the Revolution to Material Girl, and every one fits perfectly, as do the original songs. And, shock, horror, even the two leads, not previously known for their singing roles, turn in passionate performances and more than acceptable vocal turns. The show is stolen entirely from them, of course, by Jim Broadbent as Harold Zidler, the club's owner, but ultimately, the chemistry between Kidman and McGregor earns them the limelight.

It's not perfect, because it can't be, but the niggles are tiny - the dialogue is occasionally drowned out by the action, some of the scenes are too dark to make following the action as effortless as it should be, and almost all of the secondary characters are *so* secondary that they're essentially tertiary. (An argument I've heard that the frenetic camerawork in the early parts of the film is too extreme might also be valid from some points of view, though I felt it just added to the impact). One common complain I will join in with, though, is that Luhrmann really did miss a trick by failing to include a can-can scene. Shot in the style of the rest of the film, it could quite easily have wiped every other screen rendition of the dance out of the film histories.

Still - it's huge, expressionistic, dynamic and passionate, and I loved it from beginning to end. Oh, and it's got Kylie in it - what more could you want? Less a film, more a total cinematic experience. See it soon.