An Object of My Obsession: Moulin Rouge!
Nathaniel RYear of Release: 2001 Studio: 20th Century Fox Directed by: Baz Luhrmann
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Ewan McGregor, Jim Broadbent, John Leguizamo, and Caroline O'Connor
Winner of: 2 Academy Awards and 8 Film Bitch Awards
Main Titles
One of my favorite sounds in the real world is curtains opening -- it's no fancy thing, just audible mechanics, a low hum. There's something in it that fills me with hope and makes me sit up straight. So I think all movies should open like Moulin Rouge! does, with those red glittery curtains parting, give or take the dancing conductor. Certainly more movies should begin with the title card "A Bazmark Production." To date there have been only three and that ain't enough. Baz Luhrmann needs to quit all activities unrelated to movie making. No more Broadway experiments, no more vacations, no talking to friends on the phone. No eating or sleeping until I get another one! I'm dying here. The only other filmmaker who gets as big of a kick from dancing nutjobs and red curtains is David Lynch. And he doesn't make enough movies either.There Was Boy...
John Leguizamo, playing a sad clown version of Toulouse-Lautrec, sings us into the film. Maybe he's sad because he knows this is the only masterpiece he'll ever be in? "There was a boy..." The boy in question is Ewan McGregor as Christian. Right away I love him because he's a) Ewan b) in Paris c) a writer and d) crying --and I love the sensitive artist types. He takes over the storytelling duties from Toulouse-Lautrec as soon as he's been introduced.These shifts happen quickly in the film. I remember a lot of people back in 2001 thought Moulin Rouge! was way too busy in its editing and I both agree and disagree. Certainly Jil Bilcock, the cutter in question, is already getting a workout four minutes in. She's cross dissolving sneak peaks of the major characters and the titular dance hall. Shes interweaving them with Christian mopily typing his way through the framing device. Yet somehow this patchwork approach works. I figure most contemporary movies are just as busy in their editing but at least this one has an excuse. Any movie art directed by Catherine Martin (Baz Luhrmann's wife) can be forgiven for being easily distracted. 'Ooh, look at that. No, no here. Wheeee. Wait what's this?' It's all so gorgeous. I figure the cinematographer and the editor are just human --they want to look around, too. But for all its show-off flair there is narrative purpose. For instance, Christian lets us know we're about to leave the present and travel back in time. The camera zooms-out away from him, only to riccochet back to a different point in the same city. We've rejoined him, a year earlier as he arrives in Paris for the first time.
Christian heads to Montmartre (also the setting of Amelie, a popular destination in 2001 Oscar nominees) and then Baz throws in this guy (pictured left), Christian's Montmartre-hating father, shouting:
"A VILLAGE OF SIN!"
Why? Because closeup grotesques are what Baz does. It isn't just that enormous "L'Amour" sign that's on a loop in all three of his films.
So Christian ignores his old man's warnings and enters this new world. Good boy! "A Village of Sin"? Basically any place or community worth making a movie about could be described in exactly that same way.
As the camera winds through the streets there are characters that are never named who keep showing up: a hooker here, a merchant there. One of the recurring characters is some kind of street musician. Every time I watch the movie I like to fool myself that it's Jude Law doing an uncredited cameo. Mostly I do this because this movie makes me hot. The idea of accidentally stumbling upon Jude Law whilst walking through a stylish Parisian musical is basically my favorite sex fantasy of all time.
Meet the Bohemians
And right at this exact point in the movie, as Christian enters Montmartre to join the Bohemian revolution and write about his favorite topics "Truth. Beauty. Freedom. Love," this movie splits into two films: The one you either love or hate.Up until this point we've only been sure of two things: First, we know it's a visually ambitious musical. Second, we know the story is about a writer and his doomed love affair with a courtesan at the Moulin Rouge, which Christian briefed us on at his typewriter. So we're thinking, "Tragic, but beautiful movie ahead." But without warning, we are deep in slapstick territory. The creative team of a new musical: dwarves, narcoleptic Argentinians, and gender-bending writers fill the screen. They dash around in odd costumes, fall through the ceiling, and argue their way (in grotesque closeup, natch) through a rehearsal of their new musical Spectacular! Spectacular! which has melody and lyrics suspicously like that of The Sound of Music. None of the shots in this scene last longer than three seconds and most of them are much shorter than that. It is an audience tester but the payoff is grand.
The edits get shorter and shorter and the din of the contentious voices grows ever more cacophonous until Christian, talented writer that he is, finally finds the words. He breaks through the clutter of the movie to sing one of the greatest and most memorable opening lines of any song ever written:
"The hills are alive with the sound of music,
with songs they have sung for a thousand years."
The bohemians are understandably gobsmacked and ecstatic, as are any audience members who took the left turn with the filmmakers into this stranger film. It's filled with hairpin tonal shifts, cartoon humor, gorgeous but bizarre visuals, and ahead-of-the-curve "mashup" fever. A sampling of my reactions: Ah, this is where we're going. I love it. He can sing. This movie is crazy. I can't wait to see what happens next. Etcetera. You probably experienced some of these as well.
But back to the actual movie. Does Christian believe in love? Yes, above all things! That's all the proof he needs to offer to be named the voice of the children of the revolution and the new writer of the very "modern" Spectacular! Spectacular! . Once business is settled Toulouse-Lautrec develops a plot to take Christian's words to Satine, the star of the Moulin Rouge. Apparently even in 1899 Paris, you needed a "name" to get funding.
But before they go to the dance hall, they drink a little absinthe and Kylie Minogue shows up as the Green Fairy. Kylie also sings a few bars of The Sound of Music for good measure.
I have never been a drug user but if you're selling something that guarantees a celebrity cameo hallucination as fanciful, deranged, and glitter-heavy I'll buy it. I'll snort it. I'm your client for life.
I sometimes imagine that every pop diva in the world --Madonna in her London castle, Olivia in Malibu, Mimi before or after her emancipation, even Whitney through the haze of her crack den --thinks about this moment and turns green with envy. They will never have a moment this cool. Nor will they ever have a moment this gay. (Madonna excluded)
