The opening credits for "Moulin Rouge," done in the style of the silent films of the nickelodeon era, do more to set the tone for the movie’s plot than the numbing twenty minute production number that soon follows. Instead of using a simple establishing shot to give the movie its sense of time and place, writer/director Baz Luhrman bombards the screen with an extended musical set piece that comes on like a tidal wave of random detail and dissonant sound that drowns the senses rather than engaging them. A long shot suggests that the Moulin Rouge is a sink hole that sucks in members at every level of Parisian society rather than being the watering place for the Bohemian community. However, if you can survive this misplaced opus, you’ll be in for a rare treat - an operetta that reinvents some of the most memorable and defining pop and rock songs of the last fifty years by appropriating their lyrics for its libretto. Some songs, like Nat King Cole’s Nature Boy, are as timeless as the movie’s themes - like the ones used in "Moulin Rouge"’s tag lines - Truth - Beauty - Freedom - and Love.

The dramatic style of "Moulin Rouge" evokes the turn of the century with a gross exaggeration of character and body movement that becomes infectious. The key players emerge from the facade of faux theatricality as full blooded creatures with all their passion and humor intact. It’s enough to make you understand the appeal and appreciate the theatrical conventions of the time with its dastardly villains, ladies in distress, and heroes. Richard Roxburgh is all curled lips, and twirling mustache complete with arched back poses as the Duke of Worcester who bankrolls a work in progress with the show’s star, Satine, as the producer’s collateral. Nicole Kidman is the doomed Satine, an alluring courtesan and star attraction of the Moulin who hopes to stake her claim as a legitimate actress in the musical theater with the help of the movie’s narrator - Christian (Ewan McGregor). He’s an impoverished writer solicited to write a musical that embodies the Bohemian ideals of the district of Montmartre. Jim Broadbent is Zidler, the proprietor of the Moulin Rouge who hangs his hopes for respectability on the show’s success. Satine and Christian fall in love, the Duke lusts for Satine, and Zidler stands to lose everything if Satine doesn’t marry the Duke.

If the plot elements are the bare bones that support "Moulin Rouge," then the lyrics of the familiar songs are the connective tissue that links one song to the next and the fates of one character to the other right up to Luhrman’s final extravaganza - a tribute to India’s Bollywood that has as much dramatic weight, and cliff hanging suspense as any movie serial. That Baz Luhrman is able to manipulate the audience’s emotions with music that has formed the soundtrack of so many people’s lives and use it to tap into the feelings of the people in "Moulin Rouge" is a tribute to his artistry. Likewise, a magnificent backdrop of an idealized Paris that exists solely in the mind of Luhrman and his set designers gives the movie an added fairy tale quality that is evocative of London in Walt Disney’s animated "Peter Pan." Luhrman even throws in his own sprite to forge the connection. "Moulin Rouge" is, if nothing else, a fairy tale for adults that is more Grimm than Disney.

Copyright 2001

"The Great Gilbert and Sullivan" (1953) - Like "Moulin Rouge," British director Sidney Gilliat’s movie is stylized in execution. Gilbert is constantly imagining the general patter of his contemporaries as rhyming verses that miraculously find their way into his operettas. The effect is often hilarious. The rhythm of the movie has the pacing of their works which are generously sampled throughout the movie. Robert Morley and Maurice Evans play the famous operetta composers.

"One From the Heart" (1982) - Dir. Francis Ford Coppola - Admittedly, this picture never worked dramatically, but the stylized sets of Las Vegas that serve as the backdrop for this curious failure are as eye-popping and dazzling as the City of Light and the Streets of Montmartre in "Moulin Rouge." I wouldn’t be surprised if it served as an inspiration to Baz Luhrman. Frederic Forrest and Teri Garr are a couple who have a falling out and seek solace elsewhere. Great Tom Waits score. Look for it on cable.

"Strictly Ballroom" (1992) - Makes dance look like kinetic sculpture. A dancer stands up against his parents and the dance establishment when he insists on creating his own moves with a new partner for the big contest. This movie is a hint at what was to come in future work with its exaggerated characters and unique narrative technique. Dance is used to express the emotions of its characters the way song is used in "Moulin Rouge." The more you see it, the better it gets.

Another venture into the theater with Jim Broadbent (Zidler - the owner of the Moulin Rouge)

Topsy Turvy (1999) - Dir. Mike Leigh - This covers the same territory as "The Great Gilbert and Sullivan" but the approach is much more realistic. This is one of the great historical and behind the scenes movies about the British musical theater. It’s got sex and drugs and operetta. The part of William S. Gilbert is inarguably one of Jim Broadbent’s greatest performances. Unfortunately, the choice of the movie’s title was one of the factors in its poor reception in the states. Allan Corduner plays Sullivan. Fascinating from beginning to end.