Directed By Baz Luhrmann
Written By Baz Luhrmann & Craig Pearce
Released 2001
A young poet, Christian (Ewan McGregor), moves to Paris at the beginning of the Bohemian Revolutionary and immediately lands his first job as a writer for a brand new production. Having to get the approval first, he’s taken to the infamous Moulin Rouge to try and convince the owner of the establishment, and director of the theater, Harold Zidler (Jim Broadbent), to grant him the green light. Christians new friends tell him they’ve set up a private meeting between him and the star of the show, Satine (Nicole Kidman), in order for him to impress her with his poetry and put in a good word to Zidler on his behalf. Unbeknownst to Christian, another man was also scheduled to meet privately with Satine, the Duke (Richard Roxburgh), who was planning on becoming an investor in the new show, paying to turn the Moulin Rouge into a proper theater. After a chaotic and musically driven mixup, a disorienting cover up, secret affairs, foreshadowing rehearsals, and an impeding darkness that can not be stopped, Christian’s life is tossed in a whirlwind of romance, passion, jealousy and trouble. Alas, faced with threats and even death, the spirit of the revolution must be his anchor, because what is life without freedom, beauty, truth and above all else, love.
Story
This film has always been one of my personal favorites, since first watching it at 16 years old, and has shaped so much of my ideas about art, dance, writing, and even love. My first experimental short film was heavily inspired by the essence of Moulin Rouge! (N’oublie Pas 2019) even using their notorious version of “El Tango Roxanne.” Re-watching this at almost 30 years old, I see how some of the themes, if used verbatim in real life, can lead to disappointing expectations, specifically with love and career. For instance, our lead character Christian moves to Paris at the end of the century, 1899, right at the start of the Bohemian Revolution in France (according to this timeline) and the artistry and unconventional way of living is booming. Almost immediately after moving into his new apartment, a dingy, yet potentially cozy studio with an incredible view of the city, an entire theater crew falls through his roof, asks him to stand in their rehearsal, fall in love with his talent, and offer him his first and official writing job for a brand new show called “Spectacular Spectacular,” which is being produced by none other than the owner of the biggest entertainment establishment in all of Paris, Monsieur Harold Zidler, director of the Moulin Rouge. Talk about luck! He then gets the once in a lifetime chance to meet totally alone with the main star of the entire show, Satine, who by the way is a courtesan, and way out of Christians budget to spend on such pleasure, in an attempt to share his “talents” with her, so she can put in a good word with Zidler to give him the go-ahead, and she of course instantly falls in love with him. It goes without saying, the likeliness of this scenario happening to us is slim, but if we take verisimilitude out of the overall film and just focus on the journey we’re taken on, we find a recognizable narrative that does happen to most of us, and that is the on going and ever spinning wheel of gain and loss.
As in most cases in films, the love interests happen instantly, but what’s honest about the bond between Satine and Christian is the prompt awareness of the inconceivable chance of them really being together. There’s so much at stake here that has become Satine’s sole responsibility to ensure doesn’t falter, the closer she gets to Christian the further she warrants the security of Moulin Rouge,and risking the life of Christian himself, and vice versa. Not only that, her health is quickly declining from an unseen sickness she has been trying to keep secret. Zilder’s character is another complexity of paradoxes. He has his own sights set on guaranteeing the success of his theater, the show, and the performers, and truly wants Satine to be the most successful; however, he practically sells her, and the deed to the Moulin Rouge to the highest bidder, in this case the Duke, and disregards her mental, emotional, and physical wellbeing. As quoted by Satine “all my life you made me believe I was only worth what someone would pay for me;” you love and hate him. He provided a lavish life for Satine, so as long as she stays there forever and uses her talents and charm to everyones benefit. On the other hand, let’s pretend Satine did leave it all behind and lived a penniless life with Christian. This notion of “but we have each other” is all they would rely on to make it through the very difficult times laid ahead for them, and how long would that last? Although, we have all seen how luck follows Christian, so, who knows, he very well could have landed another incredible job somewhere else and everything would have been great; one can dream. I don’t love the foreshadowing that is completely filled in every song, every scene, every character, everything else. I do think it’s overused and not necessary, although you can argue that’s where the genius is because we are told from the start how this whole thing goes and yet we still experience such shock and sorrow when it’s all said and done.
Imagery & Production
The remarkable production design was by Catherine Martin (The Great Gatsby; Romeo + Juliet) and Director of Photography was the very prestigious Donald McAlpine (The Chronicles of Narnia, Peter Pan, Romeo + Juliet). A strong creative team is precisely what stands out the most in this film; the entirety of the film location was all on a FOX lot in Australia! It was stated that trying to film in Paris with such a distinctive look, along with dating it back to the early 1900s, would have been way too time consuming and nearly impossible (expensive is what I imagine), so they had to build everything. They also had to do it in a timely manner because Star Wars was booked to film on that same lot! So, there was not a whole lot of wiggle room for reshoots or redesigns. It’s astounding what they were able to make practically, and executed so well, that I do feel like I’ve been transported to a different time and place. There didn’t seem to be an over saturated amount of CGI either, which I definitely appreciate. This was still when cinema did a lot of practical props and sets, and it just gives a more authentic feeling to its totality. Costuming was absolutely golden, just simply the chef’s kiss. To make things look “show-biz” glamor but still with a worn in and used appearance, it can be a tricky thing to balance and deliver perfectly. Often I’ll watch a production that has extreme fantasy, editorial and high fashion looks, but you can tell they’re costumes, so it takes away the value for me, whereas examples like Moulin Rouge!, the wardrobe appears to be legitimate.
I’m not sure if I loved the fact that Christians apartment coincidentally sits right across the street from the Moulin Rouge, so close that he can see Satine from his window; I probably would have made it seem as if he lived a little more separated from there. Again, I think they use a lot of foreshadowing and on the nose references, including production, such as after the tragic loss Christian experiences, he has to see that now wretched building everyday as long as he lives in that space. Along that same page, I did really love how the entire town and the citizens seemed to have all lost their splendor and vibrancy once it lost it’s “Sparkling Diamond.” Even the Moulin Rouge seemed completely vacant and a bit dilapidated, making the impression that Satine was the life force behind the whole essence of what made Paris, or at least that part of it, memorable. Overall, I would say the talent and skill that went behind curating this world was impeccable. Between reality and deep fantasy, there’s a space that holds magic but is not too far out of reach where we can’t go ourselves, and that’s where Moulin Rouge! lives suitably.
Performance
This entire lineup is totally unparalleled, casting did such an outstanding job at who they placed for the characters. Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor were just as iconic together as Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. Kidman has always been a great versatile actor who has starred in some of my other favorites such as The Stepford Wives, Practical Magic, and The Others. McGregor also played lead in another favorite of mine Big Fish (which I will be reviewing as well), and didn’t disappoint in this spot as yet another hopeless romantic who will stop at nothing for the love of his life. The great Jim Broadbent was the real jewel of this whole thing, giving nothing less than an overdramatic, hyper enchanted, show stopping, ringleader mania who can talk his way out of anything all for the sake that “the show must go on;” also leading in some renowned films such as The Chronicles of Narnia, Harry Potter, Robots, Indiana Jones, The Iron Lady, just to name a few. Richard Roxburgh was unrecognizable to me and it wasn’t until years later I realized he was Dracula in the film Van Helsing! He completely sold this role as well, making him someone you can’t help but want to just punch right in the throat. The theater crew (Jacek Koman, Matthew Whittet, and the lovable John Leguizamo) all portrayed fantastically the ideal eccentric, flamboyant, and dynamic stage troupe. All of the Can Can dancers were brilliant, the choreography that went into this film was truly amazing and everyone, professional dancer and not, performed so well. Originally watching this, the only person I didn’t care much for was the Dukes hitman Warner (Linal Haft), although rewatching it years later, I actually found his performance to be not entirely stale. The climatic musical number when he tries blending in with the other bald musicians, the only time he made me laugh, was so subtle but comically clever, it changed my perspective from “please get off of my tv” to “he’s not so bad.”
I used to be a much bigger fan of musicals than I am now, able to withstand song after song after song for 2 hours. Now, I get over it really fast, but there are some that I can tolerate and actually sincerely enjoy, this film being one of those exceptions. If you’ve watched it, you know all of the songs used were covers, which might have been what made listening to them more digestible, all except for one, the song which became the overall theme song and cornerstone of the story’s message “Come What May,” which was originally written for Romeo + Juliet but ended up being scratched from that production and instead used here. I will say, there’s always something a bit campy about musicals no matter the story or setting, that I don’t mind at all and is what I enjoy about them. It’s when I feel the songs or scenes drag on entirely way too long to fit in a 10 minute musical number that doesn’t necessarily drive the narrative forward, and more so reiterates what we as an audience already know, that’s when I start to lose interest. I never lost interest in watching Moulin Rouge! probably because the scenes were all so fast paced and constantly forced my attention, whereas some musicals I’m just watching a young girl prance through the forest for 7 minutes singing about prancing through the forest. All of the songs were different from each other as well, so it kept things fresh, whereas some musicals it is quite literally the same 1 song they sing in different harmonies throughout the whole movie. It was all quite absurd, truthfully, but in such a fascinating and appealing way. I expected my overall taste towards this film would have outgrown it’s disorienting and ridiculous nature, but I still found myself totally enamored, the same as I was 15 years ago. That’s exactly what makes this piece a tour de force of cinema.
What Does it Mean?
Despite the fact that I could blame this film for ruining my pliable mind and ultimately causing my painful let downs of presuppositions around what my love life and career would pan out to be; nevertheless the message is still impressive and holds it’s legitimacy throughout time, “the greatest thing you’ll ever learn, is just to love & be loved in return.” My outlook and experience of love has grown, evolved and matured the older I’ve gotten, as most would expect; however, I constantly come back to this notion of importance regarding who we have in our lives, how they make us feel and treat us and how we treat them. Does it matter how much material possessions we can obtain and prestigious credentials we can acquire? Does it matter even more who our loved ones are and how we keep them close to us, and show up for them when they need us or when we need them? Or even just as simple as having those special connections and relationships, without any “tit for tat” understanding and just pure, unconditional presence between one another. It could be romantic, platonic, relatives, or even an animal companion, if that’s all who makes us happy in life. It’s tough to say frankly because the way society is structured, we all have to have some sort of income to be able to eat, reside, and participate in basic necessities. Unfortunately, love by itself can not fill our stomachs or materialize into a roof and walls around us, or be taken as an antibiotic for serious illnesses. We need food, shelter, medical care, transportation, a way to communicate to each other, a way to take care of ourselves, and those all, sadly but realistically, cost money to do so. Yet, we can also say that our very human existence would not matter if it was not for the people in our lives, the memories and moments we share with them, being apart of something bigger than just our singular self, just being there for each other, receiving help and helping others. It’s unfair to choose between career and relationships, because both can be toxic, dysfunctional and harmful. Still, I do believe it is vital for our emotional, mental, and spiritual wellbeing to have those notable people in our lives.
I think why I lean more towards the importance of “love” or loved ones specifically, is because I have experienced the suddenness of death, of loss, of regret and grief. We can almost always replace our material things, but each person alive is unique and paramount in their own right, and essentially irreplaceable; once they are gone from our physical world, all that is left are the thoughts of them. Life as we know it on this playing field is so short and fleeting. It’s not even about being lonely or not having a significant other, because some people are perfectly happy alone, but it’s more about the essence and meaning of the life we lived and how we impacted each other. I have definitely experienced once in a lifetime career opportunities, and have chased after dreams I’ve had since I was a child. I can honestly stand in fulfillment and say I’m proud of myself for accomplishing those things, because it was not easy whatsoever. I have also found an aspect of life that, to me, means a little deeper and holds a more significant place in my heart, and that is prioritizing my interpersonal self-care and the wellbeing of my loved ones. If I have to choose between an abusive work environment and spending the rest of my life with someone I loved, or even just loving myself fully, I would imagine I would pick the latter. I have had to choose between a high profile work establishment and my own prosperity, and although it was such a heartbreaking decision, in the end I had to choose what I knew was best for me and my livelihood. I knew this organization was draining me in so many ways, and leaving was detrimental to my health. I made the hard choice of choosing loving myself more than wanting to please the unrealistic expectations set upon me from this company. I had been separated from so many good things, and I was manipulated for years to stay in that space because a promise of “success” was forcefully implanted into my subconscious. It wasn’t until I hit rock bottom when I realized there’s no way I could continue on and be satisfied with myself. That’s what makes our lives remarkable, is when we chose that kind of profound and nourishing love over the shiny illusions of what we have been convinced to believe was better than that.
Moulin Rouge! You have my heart always, and may we all truly experience freedom, beauty, truth and love.