Moulin Rouge!
***/**** Image A Sound A- (DD)/A+ (DTS) Extras A
starring Nicole Kidman, Ewan McGregor, John Leguizamo, Jim Broadbent
screenplay by Baz Luhrmann & Craig Pearce
directed by Baz Luhrmann
by Travis Mackenzie Hoover It's been a long time since I've seen a mainstream film that tried to place its heart in the audience's hands. Nothing in recent memory is as direct and open in its pleasures as the classic Hollywood musicals were, having been replaced by the sideways glance of the ironist and all of the false snobbery that pretends nothing is as it appears. While this is supposed to be a bellwether of our superior sophistication, it really just means that we strike a different pose: we must be superior to the events on screen and stop up our emotions with an arched eyebrow and a swift kick to the object of our gaze. The fact is that any evidence of true feeling–or, more to the point, true yearning for release–is treated as ridiculous and something to be lamented, but one must admit the current climate makes an affirmation of what we want seem very vulnerable and the efforts of those who decide to work without the net of condescension seem daring, if not suicidal.
One who dares is Baz Luhrmann. He attempts in Moulin Rouge! to tear open the curtains of self-protective snobbery and satisfy our deepest cravings for release and pleasure. Granted, he doesn't always know how to facilitate this–his technique remains limited and inarticulate, and he often relies on a shorthand that leaves the objects of his desire dangling just out of reach. But he's clearly onto something with this musical-comedy greatest-hits collection, and it's something that ought to be taken up by those who might elaborate further on its possibilities.
Romantically agonized poet Christian (Ewan McGregor) narrates the film, typing out the story of his doomed affair with courtesan Satine (Nicole Kidman). Wanting to join the bohemian revolution of 1899, he rushes to Montmartre and falls in with Toulouse-Lautrec (John Leguizamo), who, as art lovers will be alarmed to learn, is staging a show called "Spectacular Spectacular". Hoping to attract the attention of Moulin Rouge proprietor Zidler (Jim Broadbent), he wins, through the miracle of mistaken identity, an audience with star attraction Satine; after some song-and-dance with the Duke of Monroth (Richard Roxburgh), he manages to both gain backing for the show and raise the lowlifes of the nightclub into the big time. But the Duke has designs on Satine, with whom Christian has fallen in love and claims as his sole property. The stage is set for anguish and tragedy.
Luhrmann shamelessly combines this age-old plot with some of the most popular songs of the past fifty years, selected specifically because they are a common currency, guaranteed of a knowing smile and a shout of "I know that song!" Luhrmann expects us to take them at face value, without subtext, and to that end slings them into the places most other directors would never dare. Our introduction to the actual Moulin Rouge is a bizarre crosscut between the "Lady Marmalade" of the dancers and the "Smells Like Teen Spirit" of the patrons; a lover's medley jumps from "Up Where We Belong" to David Bowie to The Beatles to, uh, KISS, all in the aid of the same romantic end. (Best is an all-male rendition of Madonna's "Like a Virgin," as belted out by a gloriously hambone Jim Broadbent.) While this apparently guileless maneuver will have high-minded hipsters squirming in their seats, it's an important, inclusive gesture that tries to return us to feelings the ironist would deem soft and ridiculous.
Alas, once Luhrmann has us unstopped, he doesn't quite know how to pour us out. It turns out that while the director is good at stating plainly what he feels, he's not very good at evoking it, relying on a technique so blatant and percussive that it scuttles our emotional connection to the events onscreen. One thinks back to the films of Powell and Pressburger, or Kelly and Donen (who knew how to be both open and emotive), and finds Luhrmann wanting. While the older directors knew how to suggest an inner state through montage and cinematography, the younger one simply slams a close-up of someone emoting and hopes we'll figure things out. There are no real visual cues to the feelings of the strenuously romantic leads, despite–or perhaps because of–Luhrmann's valiant efforts: While he whips the camera around and cuts from face to grimacing face, he keeps us from gaining a foothold in both a physical or emotional state.
But though I suppose the film is a thesis statement without a supporting argument, the statement is fairly sound and ripe for extrapolation. It's high time we started to name our desires instead of deflecting them onto an object of derision, for it is only through the understanding and articulation of what we want that we can have any hope of navigating the world. Moulin Rouge! may not understand or articulate its desires, but its groping in the dark could be the first glorious step to finding the light that might lift the ironic darkness in which we sleep. Originally published: June 3, 2001.
THE DVD
by Bill Chambers There were better movies released in 2001, but I can think of few that cry out for an extravagant DVD package louder than Moulin Rouge!. In a first for the format, director Baz Luhrmann produced the two discs himself; the self-indulgence that results from this is not entirely unwelcome and at the very least appropriate for a film that invited us in pre-hype to "Get Baz'd." Disc One houses a sure, THX-approved, 2.34:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer. As my monitor had trouble parsing the darkest interiors, my sole nitpick is an occasional decline in shadow detail. (Contrary to DVD FILE's review, the THX label is plain as day on the front cover art and on the spine, right below the DTS icon–which they also missed.) In terms of the audio, the DTS 5.1 track bests the Dolby Digital one, as to be expected with a song-heavy film. Bass is guttural no matter your listening choice. Sight-impaired filmgoers may appreciate the inclusion of a narrated soundtrack.
My favourite bonus of the entire DVD is "Behind the Red Curtain." Clicking on The Green Fairy when she pops up redirects you to a relevant featurette of above-average quality, one of which, about the demolition of the film's elaborate elephant stage to make way for Episode (yawn) II, I appreciated for facilitating my dislike of George Lucas for the day. Two focused commentary tracks featuring Luhrmann (in the first he's joined by co-costumer/production designer Catherine Martin and cinematographer Donald McAlpine, in the second, co-writer Craig Pearce; I preferred the former as McAlpine is not well represented in any of the remaining supplements) fill in any gaps left by the eight "Red Curtain" shorts.
While some of the second platter's content is redundant to careful viewers of Disc One, it's all pretty good. Let's take a look at Disc Two section by section.
The Making of Moulin Rouge!
The 26-minute "The Nightclub of Your Dreams: The Making of Moulin Rouge!" touches on many facets of the production, never in great detail. It serves in large part as a discussion of the film's themes: love, love, and love. (More than anything else, Moulin Rouge! convinced me that "love" is the most overused word in the English language.)
The Stars
Preceded by a montage of Christian/Ewan McGregor and Satine/Nicole Kidman fawning over one another, you'll find individual interviews with the two leads (plus Leguizamo, Broadbent, and Roxburgh). Each segment screams posterity and runs approximately three minutes.
This is a Story About…
Three subdivisions here:
Interview with screenwriters Baz Luhrmann & Craig Pearce (4 mins.)
Both trained actors, their writing sessions consist of improv and role-playing. We're treated to Pearce and Luhrmann acting out an early draft scene.
Craig Pearce Reads Early Treatment (2 mins.)
Not exactly: Pearce explains that the original villain was named Count Von Groovy, a character who sounds a heck of a lot more interesting than the current Duke.
Old Storylines and Script Comparisons
Step through discarded plot and dialogue from four versions of the screenplay, the earliest one dated 1998. Once upon a time, Christian and Satine were to have conceived a child together.
The Cutting Room
A 4-minute interview with editor Jill "[Baz] Is The Divine Storyteller" Bilcock and Luhrmann introduces "Unseen Footage of Abandoned Bits," five in total. Rather than full-fledged deleted scenes, the majority of these are alternative versions of sequences shown to preview audiences. One that I enjoyed was Zidler's rap at a slower tempo–this could have had repercussions (i.e., a decelerating effect) on that which came before and after it. Lastly, you'll find Luhrmann's mock previsualizations "(with apologies to the actors)": freeze-frames with dialogue dubbed by Baz; these were placeholders for footage yet to be shot or in need of retakes.
The Dance
"A word from Baz" on the dancing, and a choice of numbers (Tango, Can Can, and Coup d'Etat) in either an extended or multicam presentation. (For synchronicity, the dancing was shot with multiple cameras simultaneously; the latter option allows you to choose between four views with the angle button (see left).) Multicam not applicable for the Hindi routine. On another page, find an interview with hard-working choreographer John "Cha Cha" O'Connell and/or view a lengthy rehearsal.
The Music
Co-composers Craig Armstrong and Marius De Vries intellectualize their aggressive compositions in "A Musical Journey" (9 mins.); "An Interview with Fatboy Slim" (4 mins.) reveals the development process of Jim Broadbent's Can Can medley; and "The Lady Marmalade Phenomenon" subjects us to not one but two occurrences of that overplayed Missy Elliot/Christina Aguilera cover of the naughty Seventies hit, first with an MTV awards clip, then the remake's repellent companion video.
The Design
Catherine Martin and an uncredited though integral blonde woman talk sets and costumes (the costume department had eighty employees!) in a 6-minute interview. Martin's fashion partner, Angus Strathie, provides a nice overview of the challenges he faced in a two-minute piece. (Squint and he bears an uncanny resemblance to Sean Connery.) The "Smoke and Mirrors" sub-menu switches gears to explore the F/X: Andrew Brown of AnimalLogic takes us inside "The Evolution of the Intro", a complex breakdown of the opening black-and-white shots, and Grant Freckleton and others explain how he turned Kylie Minogue into "The Green Fairy." Four costume galleries, nine set-design galleries, and a rotating diorama of the graphic design–period art–that peppers the film round out this area of the disc.
Marketing
Herein: a totally ridiculous 3-minute "International Sizzle Reel" (a compilation of Moulin Rouge! media hype); four still galleries showcasing the work of thus far unsung crew; a picture book of the film (a.k.a. "The Little Red Book"); a poster gallery; evocative American and Japanese trailers for Moulin Rouge! and a commercial for the Baz Luhrmann DVD collection "Red Curtain"; and a music promo spot.
As you can see, this double DVD has a little something for every brand of Moulin Rouge! fan. Get Baz'd! Oh, and happy Easter-egg hunting: I caught 7 out of an advertised 10.
127 minutes; PG-13; 2.34:1 (16×9-enhanced); English DD 5.1, English DTS 5.1, English DVS 2.0, English Dolby Surround, French Dolby Surround; CC; English, Spanish subtitles; Region One; 2 DVD-9s; Fox
