Spectacular Spectacular! (Moulin Rouge! (DVD))

Member Name: collingwood21

Product:	Moulin Rouge! (DVD)
Date:	27/11/02 (580 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Over 6 hours of extra material, Colourful, exuberant, enthusiastic and entertaining film, Great soundtrack

Disadvantages: I would have liked some PC bonuses on the DVD, SOme of the songs are just too catchy for their own good!

Moulin Rouge is a classic love story, given the Spectacular Spectacular treatment by visionary director Baz Luhrmann. It is a musical of such magnificent proportions, of such colour and such exuberance that I fell in love with it when I first saw it at the cinema, and which I had to buy for my DVD collection when I found it on BOGOF at HMV earlier in the week. I couldn't quite believe my luck, having found out just how good the DVD was after renting it shortly after its release, and have devoted much time to having yet another watch of it, all in the name of research you understand. I hope you are sitting comfortably, as I have an awful feeling this is going to be a long one...


· The film plot
The film is set in Paris in the year 1900, and takes its overall look from the Art Noveau style that was popular at the time - it is like the whole film has been set inside a work of art. Central to the story is the passionate but uninspired poet Christian from a well-off English family who comes to Bohemian Paris in search of the lifestyle of artists, of inspiration and of love. The Bohemian lifestyle was centred around the artistic district of Montmarte, and was built around the four ideals of truth, beauty, freedom and love: highly appealing to the young and naïve poet. He soon meets up with a group of fellow starving artists - led by famous Boho Toulouse Lautrec - and assists them in their plan to gain funding for a new play by meeting a potential donor at the notorious nightclub, the Moulin Rouge. It is this first night there that Christian's life changes forever when he comes face to face with beautiful dancer/courtesan Satine, the sparkling diamond in Harold Ziddler's successful club. Satine mistakes the poet for a wealthy Duke who Ziddler is hoping will provide investment into the club, and takes him up to her room where she appears to fall for him in return.

All too soon though, it becomes apparent that Satine was only op
en to his advances because of the money she and Ziddler were going to make out of it. Not to be deterred though, Christian goes about seducing her and inevitably they do fall in love with one another - but not before the plot takes a tragic turn when we learn that Satine is dying from TB. However, blissfully unaware of this, the infatuated couple must keep their love secret from the Duke (who is now also in love with Satine) as it is only by keeping him convinced of her love that he will continue to pour money into the building of the Moulin Rouge's new theatre. Thus we are set up with a simple yet effective love story between prostitute and poet, backed up by a cast of Duke's dancing girls and Bohemians in the world's most famous nightclub. We are well aware from the beginning that it is to be a doomed love like that of Romeo & Juliet - but this inevitability does not stop us enjoying the passion, colour and innuendo of the story at all. The moral of the story (if you can call it that, but I am lost for what else to name it) is the repeated line "the greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return".

The film features:
Christian - Ewan McGregor
Satine - Nicole Kidman
Harold Ziddler - Jim Broadbent
The Duke - Richard Roxburgh

Director - Baz Luhrmann
Music director - Marius DeVries
Choreography - John O'Connell
Written by - Baz Luhrmann and Craig Pearce


· The music
As well as the stunningly artistic visual treats of Moulin Rouge, we are also provided with a chart-topping score to complement it. The soundtrack has been enormously successful (I own a copy of that too!), but unlike my preferred classical music, this score is one made up of reworked pop and rock songs. At first glance, it may not seem befitting for modern music to be used in a turn of the century film, but it has been adapted amazingly well, and it is very difficult to walk out of
the cinema or turn the DVD off without at least one o
f them going through your head for hours afterwards. I think all of you must have heard the Lady Marmalade song that came out of the film, and possibly also Come What May, which was released by Ewan and Nicole with a video montage of scenes of the film, but there is an awful lot more to the soundtrack than these two songs. The highlights of the score, in my view, are:

Because We Can, by Fatboy Slim - a typically catchy and exuberant new working of the music the Moulin Rouge is famous for. This song has a strong bass beat and is a contemporary dance version of the Can-Can, which is featured in the first scenes of the film that take place in the club. It is perfect for expressing the energy and colour of the setting, and is very hard to listen too without wanting to get up and dance too!

Your Song, sung by Ewan McGregor with Alessandro Safina - the Moulin Rouge version of the Elton John song, and a perfect choice for the film as it is such a simple expression of love ("how wonderful life is now you're in the world"). Nothing much has been changed from the original, and Ewan does an able job of it, as he sings to Satine in his attempt to get her to love him in return. I must say that I was surprised to find that it was actually him singing, and he does have a surprisingly good voice, that is well complemented by the deep voice of the classical singer to produce a very listenable (is that a word?) cover version.

One day I'll fly away, sung by Nicole Kidman - chosen for its ability to express Satine's wish to leave the Moulin Rouge and start a new life with Christian. Again, very similar to the original and Nicole doesn't have a half bad voice I must say.

The Love Medley, sung by Ewan and Nicole - a very clever medley put together for the scene where the two characters fall in love with each other. Taking lines from other well-known songs and s
tringing them together, we start out with Christian trying to woo the woman he loves, and slowly over the course of the song you can see her gradually falling for him as her lines change from ones of resistance, to acceptance, to loving him in return. As well as being great to listen to, you can have fun trying to place each of the lines and identifying the original songs!

El Tango De Roxanne, sung by the backing cast with Ewan - based on the classic song Roxanne by the Police, this piece turns the familiar words into a Tango in one of the film's big dance scenes. This has to be the biggest reworking of any single song in the film, and is the perfect backdrop to the anguish and jealousy felt by Christian when Satine has to spend time with the Duke.

Hindi Sad Diamonds, sung by all the cast - the Indian style music from the finale of the film, when the play is finally going ahead in the Moulin Rouge's new theatre. This music has an almost hypnotic style to it, and cleverly blends the exotic music with the familiar words of Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend, in a mirror to the use of this song in the opening scenes in the club. So, we here this music in two forms to mark both the entrance and exit of Satine in the film.

In addition to this, there is music by Christina Aguilera, Bono, David Bowie and Beck.


· My opinion of the film
It simply took my breath away! The sheer scale and ambition of the production was mind blowing, but yet Baz Luhrmann pulls it off really well. The cast is excellent and obviously enjoy their part in it from beginning to end - I especially enjoyed seeing just how versatile Jim Broadbent can be. The breathtaking scenes on screen are matched only by the quality of the music, which was custom made and tailored to fit the images rather than just picking and choosing vaguely appropriate pop songs as so many films seem to do. If I have to offer an down sides to it, all I can think of i
s that the songs are a bit too catchy and seem to get stuck in your head for hours after hearing them! The rating is a 15, and I recommend Moulin Rouge of this age and over who likes a good love story or musical - male or female.


· DVD extras - disc one
As well as the film itself, disc one contains the "behind the red velvet" extra. When turned on, this allows you to access film commentaries by the writers, a production commentary or one of the technical descriptions of the film. Once you have seen Moulin Rouge, it is quite nice to be able to hear the reasoning behind what you have seen and found how it was made and put together, and the commentaries (especially the one by the writers) is especially worth a watch. The DVD menus are put together just as well as everything else, again using the Art Noveau style and with the addition of the green absinthe fairy that was seen for one of the film sequences (a cameo by Kylie Minogue), so even that becomes a pleasure to use!


· DVD extras - disc two
There is so much bonus material in this set - over 6 hours worth in total - that it spills over onto a second disc, devoted entirely to more extra features. On this DVD, you can view the by now obligatory "making of" documentary, interviews with Nicole and Ewan, full un-cut dance sequences, scenes that got left out, interviews with the writers and editors, play around with the multi-angle facility on the Tango, Can-Can and Coup D'Etat, and see the music video to the released version of Come What May. To be fair, they have tried to cram an awful lot onto the disc to really make sure you get your money's worth. Some of the extras seem to have been put in just for the sake of having something extra on the disc, put I am not going to complain about that! My favourite feature I think has to be the music video, as I loved that version of Come What May, and it is not included on the soundtrack. The star interviews
are quite good, but the ones with the background cast are less so, probably because I had heard pretty much everything therewas to hear about the film by then! The menus on this disc also feature the same style and green fairy as on disc one.

Any complaints? Only that I would have liked a screensaver or PC wallpaper to be included as other films have done - other than that, great value for money.


· Details...
This DVD was bought on a BOGOF offer, but full price would have cost £19.99 in HMV. It is also available at DVDplus for £17.49 with free delivery or 101CD for £15.99 with free delivery if you are looking for something a bit cheaper.

Moulin Rouge is rated with a 15 certificate.

www.clubmoulinrouge.ocm

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