Not the official poster, but I think it represents the movie and it’s ideas better.

Moulin Rouge! is amazing. It was written and directed by Baz Luhrmann, and stars Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman. It tells a story that will make some cry, some laugh, and some cringe, and it only cost $52 million to make. This is possibly the most unique and fascinating film I have ever seen. I’ve watched deeper things, I’ve watched stranger things, I’ve watched better things, but I’ve never seen a movie accomplish what this movie accomplishes. To give a literal interpretation of the plot, young, English writer Christian, played by heartthrob, Scotsman Ewan McGregor, travels to Paris at the turn of the century, 1899, to write a great play about love. “But there was only one problem. I’d never been in love. (Cartoon Sound Effect),” Christian tells us in his opening voice over. Through a misunderstanding, he get’s time alone with the expected star of his play, Satine played by Nicole Kidman, and is able to woo her with his incredible talent of stealing songs from the future, specifically Elton John’s “Your Song” during their first scene alone together. They continue to do covers of songs such as Nirvana’s “Smells like Teen Spirit”, Queen’s “The Show Must Go On”, and everyones favorite number in the film, The Police’s “Roxanne” but renamed, “El Tango Roxanne” to accompany its tango style remix. The two allow their love to blossom and grow, even though Staine is a courtesan who has been tasked by her boss, Harold Zidler played by Jim Broadbent, to woo the Duke, played by Richard Roxburgh, who is offering to finance their bordello’s, The Moulin Rouge, transformation into a real theater.

This movie is a polarizing one for audiences. Most people feel very strongly about what they think about the film. This is one I watched 100 times when I was in Jr. High, and even though I continued to listen to the soundtrack throughout High School, I actually avoided revisiting the film for those four years. Part of me was afraid I would go back and be embarrassed about ever liking the thing, but I finally decided, what the hell, let’s take a look at this thing having 4 to 5 years distance from it, and see if it holds up past my middle school mentalities. Does it hold up? Yes! Kinda! Let’s look at it.

First off, let’s examine why people hate this movie. There are two big reasons that I can find, both from other online reviews like The Nostalgic Critic review, and people I’ve just talked to in real life, like my dad. The biggest reason I’ve uncovered is due to the films use of covers of preexisting songs, spare a few, and a few songs that just change the lyrics in parts of the songs. For example in the movies “Smells Like Teens Spirit” musical number, it’s an introduction to the environment of the Moulin Rouge, and we have Harold Zidler singing, “Although I mustn’t gloat, at the Moulin Rouge, you’ll have fun!” Obviously not from the original song. Though neither of these versions compare to The Muppets cover of it. The second reason people hate this movie is why I’d expect people to hate it the most, it’s annoying. The movie is really big, really expressive, really all over the place in its editing, scene pacing, and just overall energy level, and even tone. The first 30 minutes of the movie especially is something that never ceases to sit still. I have arguments for why these two elements work, but let me preface those arguments by conceding that these are perfectly valid and understandable reasons for not liking the film. Going into what was the first original musical, and what was supposed to be the big return of the movie musical, and instead only hearing covers of popular songs can be disappointing, and even for fans of musical theater, the films editing and pacing can be a bit much.

Baz is obviously on something when making his movies (Yes, that’s only a joke. I don’t know the man.), and not everyone wants to watch that. Let’s take a look at why he used popular, well known songs. First, I’d like to explain the reason I originally watched this movie was because of the Confused Matthew and Nostalgic Critic reviews, because they were completely polar opposites in terms of their take away from the film. Matthew loved the film, it was at the time, and to my knowledge currently is his favorite film. Critic hated it, and landed it a spot on his “Worst Movies He’s Reviewed” list. After going over the film a dozens of times in my life, I mostly understand where Critic is coming from even though I disagree, and I think he was judging the film in an unfair context, but as someone who honestly loves this film like Matthew does, from what I can remember of his review (watching it again is currently impossible, his videos went down with blip.com) I have no idea what he was talking about almost the entire review. I also think even the film’s fan (Matthew) was judging the film in the incorrect context. He talked about how perfectly told the narrative was, and how emotionally impactful it is, and how it also used the, “tilt the box1.,” strategy of storytelling. I watched Matthews review again and again when I was younger, and could not for the life of me understand what he was trying to say with it.

Enough of what these goons thought of the film though, how do I take the film in. Well, the movie is a bit of a farce. I bring up Matthew and Critics reviews of the film because while they’re on the complete opposite sides of the spectrum in their liking for it, they both had one thing in common, they were both taking the film way way too seriously, Critic overanalyzing the characters illogical decisions, and Matthew talking about how emotional the drama was. In a way, they’re both right, the film is filled with plot holes and stupid decisions being made, but it’s also filled with moments where your totally wrapped up in the character’s turmoil and drama. The thing is, this isn’t a movie for the adult side of your brain, it’s for the middle school side of your brain. What do I mean by that? Well, it may have helped that I saw this movie when I was in jr. high school, because this movie, it’s environment, it’s characters motivations, they operate under the same logic and impressions of a jr. high school kid.

One of Critic’s biggest complaints is the third act break up where Satine breaks Christian’s heart under the impression that she’s saving him from The Duke’s wrath, as the The Duke has finally discovered that she was in love with Christian the whole time, and he won’t truly have her to himself until Christian is out of the picture, even though she could have at least told Christian the truth about what was really going on, and maybe they could have figured out a plan together to thwart The Dukes wrath. My response: I don’t know, why did your girlfriend break up with you in jr. high school? Don’t they often say something like, “I’m no good for him,” or vice versa, “He’s no good for me.” Christian and Satine are jr. high kids in love, and there romance carries all the complexities of that.

My same argument goes for why Luhrmann decided to go with covers of pre-existing songs to fill his musical. Confused Matthew has always made the argument that this was done to give us perspective on the times. If we used songs that were new 100 years ago, then it would sound like 100 year old music to us, but if we played modern music then we’d get a sense of what the Moulin Rouge sounded like at that time to people, something new and wild. The thing is, if that’s your argument then the issue of using pre-existing songs still stands. You can make original music for a period piece musical that sounds modern. The real charm that comes in by using these popular songs is when you use that 8th grade perspective. Think back to when you were a pimple faced pre-teen, and you had just had your heart broken again, what was your favorite song to sing along to all emo like when you were this prematurely miserable? That’s what the film Moulin Rouge! captures. It takes our shower singing and goes all out with it, with these epic sets, amazing orchestrations, hugely emotional (emo) vocals singing these songs. This movie is a 13 year old’s mind letting loose, and you’re either going to go with it or find it really irritating. But honestly, I think it’s important that we have people that love and hate this movie. It tells you something about yourself. Can you still entertain that middle school mindset, or have you moved past that?

So that’s the provocative stuff, let’s talk about the technicals.  Being a Baz Luhrmann film, the movie has an immense amount of life in its sets, and the effects are all charmingly old school and fake looking. The editing in the first half hour is something even I struggle with, finding it obnoxiously jumpy, but once you get past the scene where they pitch the play’s story to The Duke, I think it’s pretty restrained and well paced. Ewan McGregor proves he can do anything in this film. I don’t know if it’s seen as a bad voice in this film, but his vocals make my heart melt in every number he’s given. His singing in the “Roxanne” number is often to awesome for me to behold just once, and often sees a rewind to watch it again even when I’m trying to watch the whole movie. His performance is also very appropriate and well played, an earnest little boy in love. He actually has no reason to love her from an adult’s perspective, but again, that’s the point, he fell in love with the first girl that smiled at him. Nicole Kidman is a little less successful. To be fair, she’s doing her job, but if I’m admitting this film will annoy a lot of people, for me, she can get to grating and obnoxious, but she for the most part sells it, and she actually has a relatable attraction to Christian that is made understandable, although again, very simple and immature. She basically fell in love with Christian because he was the first man she was with that didn’t just see her as a prostitute. Again, they don’t really have chemistry, but they’re not supposed to, it’s a throwback to the relationships you went through in your adolescence.

Now just to make it clear, this isn’t me finding another Pain & Gain where the whole movie is completely driven by irony. If anyone actually watches Pain & Gain and at the end is still confused whether that movie was supposed to have any legitimate drama in it, then please go read my review and educate yourself. The moment where I realized what this film was doing was in the climax. Every character in the film is acting like an idiot at this point, and just making life harder for themselves, and then we get the obligatory relationship fixing number, where Christian and Satine sing a song about being in love and it fixes everything. The thing was, the song was nice, and really gets you wrapped up in seeing them get back together. There is something interesting and amusing here. This movie almost makes no sense logically or plot wise, and the characters are paper thin, but they all want things we can relate to at a young age. Christian wants to be in love. Satine wants to be taken seriously as, “A real actress.” It’s all simple motivation, and you want to grab at it, you get caught up in it. Well some do at least. Some will find this as sloppy and lame as it will look to completely “matured” eyes.

I think films that, “aren’t for everyone” can be the most powerful, because they have that personal connection. Don’t get me wrong, my favorite movie is Star Wars (77), so I’m not shy making the most popular movie in history my personal favorite, but part of the joy I get from Pain & Gain, my second favorite film of all time, is the fact that so many people don’t seem to pick up on what that film is saying, “How could you like those characters?”, yeah, exactly, how could you? But Moulin Rouge! is a little more interesting than just a straightforward satire; it’s not saying, “Ha ha, isn’t this kind of movie or societal idea stupid,” it’s asking you to put on gothic attire and makeup, sing along with them, and then giggle about how dramatic you were all being when the song is over. It wants you to enjoy the emotions, it wants to remind you what your hormones did to your brain when we were entering our teen years, and I’ve never seen a movie accomplish celebrating teenage angst in that way.

I love this movie, I love its look, I love all of the songs, I love its unique undertones and overall identity, it’s a film that certainly works for me and a lot of other people, but I can’t guarantee it’ll work for everyone. Even so, if you think you’ll hate it, I still recommend it. It is an interesting idea for a film that you can get just as much out of even if you hated it than if you loved it. Do you still find yourself indulging in that fairy tale mind-set, or have you moved past that in life, and can’t get involved in such a emotionally driven and logical allergic story. Whether you’ll love or hate it, I think it’s a spectacle to behold, check it out.

7/10
You’re guaranteed to love or hate,
That’s reason enough to watch.

Hope you like, but it’s okay to hate.

Footnotes:
1. As opposed to, “thinking outside the box” this storytelling concept is the “tilt the box” of storytelling possibilities. This is an idea that I’ve only heard from Confused Matthew, so it may be his original idea, left up to the viewers to decide what he meant. My belief is that it has to do with writing a story that is “inside the box” but asking you, and the characters in the story, to look at it in a different way.

Reference Credits
Moulin Rouge! Dir. Baz Lurhmann. Perf. Nicole Kidman, Ewan McGregor. 20th Century Fox, 2001. Film.
Nostalgic Critic Moulin Rouge Review
Confused Matthew You-Tube Channel