An Object of My Obsession: Moulin Rouge!
Nathaniel RPreviously part 1 pg 1
At the Moulin Rouge / The Can Can
The boys, properly sloshed with absinthe, travel to the legendary Moulin Rouge. However, we the viewers aren't completely there yet, for Christian is narrating. Whenever the film moves into his dreamy voiceover (and it does so frequently as a transition between scenes) the images slow down. My theory is that we're inside Christian's memory until Baz "drops" us into the actual events, at which point things move dizzyingly fast again. Despite the slow-mo in these transitions, the editing remains restless. There are two quick looks at Harold Zidler (Jim Broadbent) shouting "Moulin Rouge!" that are divided by a shot of a dancer's panties. Or maybe Zidler is blocking your view of the shot of the panties from either side of the edit: a leering panty sandwich. Either way you get the point that this club has room for only three types: raging ids (Zidler), sexual objects (everyone), and dumbstruck naïfs (Christian).Once again ladies & gentlemen, three modes: id ---> sexual object ---> naif.
Though I prefer to explain this visual sequencing thusly:
Baz Luhrmann ______---->_ This Movie! ________---->___YouChristian introduces us to Zidler and then his infamous girls, the "Diamond Dogs." They are also known to Moulin Rouge! fanatics as "The Four Whores of the Apocalypse" though they're never named this in the film as I recall, only in the supplementary materials. They are, without question, my favorite supporting characters. 'Nini Legs-In-The-Air' aside (more on her later), they barely have any dialogue but it's loads of fun to spot them in various scenes. Every time we catch a glimpse of them, Bilcock cuts away to some other flashy clubgoer as if to really look at them would shatter their collective illusion.
I'll admit right now that I find this evasion both artistically sound and offputting. For instance, take this shot I've chosen. T'was hard to get.
Christian introduces the Diamond Dogs with a complete sentence of narration but this simultaneous visual debut lasts less than one full second. Before 'Mimi Fromage' (blond and plump to your far right) is even ought of her door they're all bathed in the blue of another cross dissolve and gone again. Every time we get a clear shot of any or all of them in all their cartoon carnality, the film cuts away. Despite the cock-tease frustration that stems from this editing choice, I do think this film approximates a wild club atmosphere more fully than just about any film I've seen. Carnival settings lead one to make imaginative leaps. You fill in the blanks with your own fantasies about the place and its denizens. I suppose that's necessitated by the inability to stay focused on any one particular visual display when there are so many places you can look.
The musical number that follows this introduction is "Voulez Vous Couchez Avec Moi." My jaw always goes a little slack, just like Christian's. I still feel an electric snap when the patrons enter with "Smells Like Teen Spirit." It's a brilliant choice for call and response. I use to love that moment in Xanadu (sorry) when the 40s big band sound begins colliding with the 70s rock. But that sequence is like a cave drawing compared to Moulin Rouge!'s Mona Lisa.
Just for good measure --Baz never stops frosting his cake-- we throw in a little Can-Can toward the end of the song. Christian becomes a part of it all by bursting into song in closeup which mirrors his action in the earlier Sound of Music sequence. There's more frenzied dancing from the high-kicking whores and their drooling johns and more of Harold Zidler egging everyone on. Above all else there is a plethora of shots of fluffy multi-colored skirts flying this way and that. The scene ends with one last slowmotion flash of panties, and very abruptly the music ends and a hush falls across the crowd.
What we're experiencing here is a moment of silence for Ngila Dickson, Milena Canonero, Jenny Beavan, and Judianna Makovsky who've all just lost the costume design Oscar to Moulin's Catherine Martin and Angus Strathie.
But poor Catherine, before she can walk into frame for her acceptance speech the glitter begins to fall. Drop everything people, Nicole Kidman is about to become legendary. You won't want to miss this.
Satine --The Sparkling Diamond
What follows is one of those breathtaking sequences that any brave and ambitious actress would kill to star in. Think of it: a multi-million production is in full swing and hundreds of craftsmen who are great at what they do have one task and one task alone. They are there to make the actress her most sensational self. They are there to sell the audience on her character's legend and in so doing, create a new one --hers. This "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend / Material Girl" medley that Nicole Kidman performs here risks a lot. Baz Luhrmann is shoving two colossal icons of 20th century pop culture (Marilyn Monroe and Madonna) into your consciousness and then asking you to dismiss them: Fall madly in love with this woman, this squealing redhead instead.To hedge their bets that you will they use every filmmaking tool to amplify her screen wattage. We've since learned that Kidman can bring it with the best of them but in 2001 the jury was still sorta out. The filmmakers don't fail her. The talented cinematographer Donald McApline bathes her in so much light that she's less caucasian than well...white. Literally. She glows like an autoerotic spotlight. Add the sparkling costume, fawning crowds, and brilliant blocking (notice how she's always being lifted up visually. When she's grounded the camera is often with her gazing down at her suitors) and you'll seriously understand the lyrics to other musicals even better:
" Give them an act with lots of flash in it
And the reaction will be passionate.Razzle Dazzle 'em
and they'll make you a star!"
" I'll light up like a light
Right up like a light
I'll flicker then flare up!
All the world's gonna stare up...In all of the world so far I'm the greatest star!"
The star-making gamble obviously pays off. Nicole Kidman shot off like a rocket in the wake of Moulin Rouge!. You know Norma Desmond's famous line? "I'm still big. It's the pictures that got small" Hollywood should've listened more carefully. If we had bigger and better movies we'd have more legendary stars. It's all a matter of size. Musicals are, by their very nature, big. You don't get to be more-than-human --you don't get to be a true superstar if you only star in small pictures. Hollywood does love to supersize their product but their ideas are never this correspondingly large. God bless Baz Luhrmann for bringing the musical back with such a big bang.
