Bohemian Rhapsody? (Moulin Rouge! (DVD))

Member Name: Belgian999

Product:	Moulin Rouge! (DVD)
Date:	02/11/01 (73 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great idea, great music, and Kylie makes a brief appearance!

Disadvantages: Loses its way a little towards the end

This is a curious film, which promises a lot, but just falls short of being the emotional and musical extravaganza it would like to be remembered as. The idea is an excellent one – tell the story of a young Scotsman, lured to the fleshpits of Montmartre by the ideals of a bohemian existence, douse him liberally in absinthe and fill the screen with vibrant colours and a montage of modern tunes to give the audience a smile and a large dose of cinematic escapism.

By and large, it works – Ewan McGregor is excellent as the dashing young playwright who has come to France to seek his destiny, and Nicole Kidman looks fantastic as a courtesan clad in shimmering costumes (and some agreeably skimpy underwear...), while Jim Broadbent frequently steals the scene with his shock of ginger hair and fantastically over the top performance as Zidler, the proprietor of the Moulin Rouge nightclub.

The plot is simple – Christian (McGregor) lands a writing job at the Moulin Rouge, which is all very handy as he lives downstairs from a motley collection of bohemians who perform on stage at that very club, and can see the huge red windmill on its roof from his window. These performers include the alcoholic dwarf Toulouse Lautrec, and a narcoleptic Argentinean acrobat who has designs on a great stage career, only to be permanently thwarted by his disease, which leads to him to fall into a deep and sudden sleep without a moment’s warning.

At the club, Christian meets Harold Zidler, and the fabulously desirable Satine (Kidman), who is the lead dancer at the centre of all the routines. She glides across the floor while the can-can girls career madly by, and Christian is smitten at once. However, she is a lady of negotiable affection, and it is clear that Zidler will use her obvious charms to woo the Duke of Monroth, who is also excellently overplayed with a ridiculous comic-book aristocrat accent by Richard Roxburgh. The Duke is a wealthy man an
d Zidler knows that if he has some quality time with Satine, he will be more susceptible to the idea of investing in the Moulin Rouge.

However, in a case of mistaken identity soon reveals that Christian has a gift for wonderful lyrical love poetry (most of which you will recognise), and Satine falls in love with him, only to realise that he is not the Duke, but a penniless bohemian. Woe. Disaster. But surely love will triumph in the end? Well, the characters really are paper-thin, but I would say that in this case, that doesn’t really matter! Christian and Satine are the star-crossed but ill-fated lovers, who can surely never be together for she must be with the Duke, who is evil personified, and is presented without a single redeeming feature. He is possessive and jealous, and seems to have made his home in the conveniently dark gothic tower, where he waits in vain for Satine to make an appearance.

Zidler’s character is probably the only one that progresses in any way – at the start he seems to be driven only by money, but does develop into quite a sympathetic figure, who really does care for Satine, especially when it becomes clear that she is close to death, ravaged by consumption. But a complex plot and credible characterisation is not the reason for watching a film like this – the music is the main reason, and the fabulous sets and choreography for numbers by such diverse artistes as Randy Crawford, The Communards Queen and Nirvana are something to behold. A veritable kaleidoscope of colour is on display as the dancing girls and men in tops hats and tails make like whirling dervishes and at some points it almost seems like the camera has trouble keeping up!

The high points were Zidler and the Duke performing their own unique version of ‘Like a Virgin’, and the Argentinean acrobat’s gravelly rendition of the Police classic ‘Roxanne’, but all the cast members get in on the act and re
ally seem to enjoy giving it plenty and booming out some classic songs in new guises. The one thing that disappointed me with this film was the way it seemed to slow to a snail’s pace towards the end. The story of the lovers has been set up and the film rattles along at speed for the first hour and a bit, and then all of a sudden it comes to a halt and turns into a sequence of tearful embraces, longing glances and meaningful pauses, with Christian and Satine singing the same couple of lines to each other over and over again.

Still, the finale is worth waiting for, as the storyline of ‘Spectacular Spectacular’, Christian’s show with Satine as the leading lady, is almost a mirror image of the triangle involving them and the Duke, and the special effects and music for this stage show are truly spectacular. It’s got the lot – dancing girls, great stylised music (modern songs given the big band and sitar treatment), guns, a plot to murder Christian, redemption, salvation and true love. In short, it’s a good laugh, and although this is a film to make the ladies cry, that does not mean to say that it’s not enjoyable! You know what’s coming, you know how it’s going to finish, and it’s very well made, but I just feel that it would have been even better had the fast pace been maintained all the way through – 20 minutes shorter, and this would have been a great film...

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