Moulin Rouge (2008, DVD)

"The greatest thing you'll ever learn, is just to love, and to be loved in return." Words to live by, and a lesson that must be learned in the duration of the film Moulin Rouge .

Baz Luhrmann took a step out into the unknown, and was given the money to make a musical centered around a night club in 1900's France. The premise of the film would be based around the music, and have characters that would go through all the stages of love. Having not directed a film since Romeo & Juliet in 1996, 20th Century Fox was taking a risk at putting him in charge of the film. The risk was calculated though, because they knew they wanted a film that would stick in the minds of the people who had seen it. Taking almost 2 years to finish from he start of principal photography, to the time it hit the big screen, the work that went into the film shows in just how much detail Luhrmann put into his project.


Moulin Rouge is the story of a Bohemian poet, who has come to Paris in the year 1900 to find himself. His main intent is to write that one great novel that will create his place in literature. Ewan McGregor plays the role of Christian, the writer who has no plans on how to support himself, other than a hope that he can become a great writer. Filled with innocence, he has come to learn about the one thing that he feels is keeping him from writing well: love. It was something that hi s father never understood, and the support he needed at home to write about it just wasn't there. So now, he has found himself in "The Summer of love"(as they say in the film), and he wants to experience everything that Paris has to offer.


In a chance meeting, people rehearsing a play that they were writing, staging, and acting out, make their presence known when one of them falls through the floor, down into Chistian's room. He helps the man back, who turns out to be suffering from a sleep disorder that could kick in at anytime (this was one of those times). Agreeing to fill the mans role in the play that they are rehearsing, the actors come across a few lines that need tweaked, yet they can't find a way to describe "The hills" in their play. Christian breaks out in song, and they can see that they may have found the ideal person for their group. Their writer quits on the spot, and Christian steps in to take the role. The only problem is, they do not have the resources to put on their play, and must find a source of money.


Knowing that the Moulin Rouge has money, the group gets into a meeting with one of the courtesan's at the nightclub, to plead their case about why the play is worthy of a large production. The courtesan is not other than Nicole Kidman, and at first sight of her, Ewan McGregor falls in love. The only problem, is that she has been promised by the owner of the club, Harold Zidler, to a man by the name of The Duke. A love triangle becomes the focus of the movie, as Christian tries to show Satine (Kidman) how far love can go, and she in turn tries to understand how someone can love her so much. The Duke will have nobody else touching "his possession", and he declares that he will make Satine his, most likely through marriage.


As I stated, Satine is played by a beautiful Nicole Kidman. In a huge stretch for her, she plays a courtesan at the Moulin Rouge, who has Harold Zidler serving as her father figure. She is very street-wise, but has never had the chance to truly fall in love with someone. In her mind, she also sees the Moulin Rouge as her ticket to becoming a big star, and moving on to bigger and better things with her life. But, for now she serves as the main attraction at the Moulin Rouge, and puts on various shows involving elaborate musical numbers that show off her dancing and singing talents. She has obviously led a troubled life up to this point, and does not hold any value in love, rather thinking of it as a waste of time.


In a great role, John Leguizamo plays Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, who is a member of the bohemian group of actors. He is the closest thing to what we would call a friend to Christian, and is always looking out for his best interests, which includes helping in any way he can to have Satine wooed by Christian. Leguizamo actually plays the character as a very short man, who is over the top in any antics and lyrics that he uses in the film. It was quite a stretch for him, and if you watch the making of the film on the DVD, you can see just how much work that he put into making the role come off perfectly. After seeing the film, I had really been hoping that he would be able to pull a Best Supporting Actor for his role, but he ended up being denied it.


In another great role, we have Jim Broadbent as Harold Zidler, the owner of The Moulin Rouge. His role was that of a father-figure who also had to look out for the best interests of his club. Everything he owns is riding on one business deal with The Duke, and he has to make sure that Satine ends up going with him. He tries to do what he thinks is best, but sometimes he ends up thinking more about himself than the well-being of those around him. His own character struggle becomes an underlying theme of the movie, and just adds a little bit more depth to an already great film.


So, we have Christian and the bohemian actors with an approved play to be held at the Moulin Rouge, and Satine will now be set as the main star. It will showcase all that she has to offer in every regard, and the lives and futures of a lot of people start to revolve around the play coming off without a hitch. All the while, Christian is trying to show Satine just how much he loves her, and that there really is a point to one person loving another. His heart is so filled with love, that he sings from the rooftops in several musical numbers that make the film very whimsical. All of the characters together make a great story that ends up showing us just how important love can be to those people that are involved in it.


The Moulin Rouge is a great story about just how much the love of another person can mean. It shows that there are times when you will do anything for love, even if it means sacrificing everything that you have, or ever will have in the process. Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor are spectacular as the main characters of the film, and do double duty as not only actors, but singers as well. In addition to the great acting that we are given, we are treated with many musical numbers that play with your emotions as an audience member. In fact, there is one sequence where they use a remake of "Roxanne" in which we are taken from one spectrum of feelings to the complete opposite in the time it takes to finish that one song.


This is one of those great films that you can watch again and again, and still come away with something new after each viewing. The music is enough by itself to warrant a second and third view. I found myself not only singing along to parts of it, but even after the movie, or even the next day, I was still singing along to parts of the songs in my head. The music s excellent, the story is great, the color schemes are outstanding , and the acting is superb. Put together, they all make this an award-winning film that teaches us: "The greatest thing you'll ever learn, is just to love, and to be loved in return. I highly recommend that you buy this DVD, and that you take advantage not only of the movie, but of the bonus features that include full-length "videos" of all of the songs, with dance sequences included.