Review of Moulin Rouge! (2001) by Emily A — 13 Oct 2017

If this came out 5-10 years later it would have been ripped apart because of its sidelining of the disabled character (Tolouse) who the original was centered around. Everyone knows Baz is style over substance, but wow. The original was about Tolouse, drowning in despair and alcoholism in part because of his low self-worth and difficulty reconciling it alongside his love for courtesans in the Moulin Rouge. Fastforward to 2001, and Luhrmann re-makes it by focussing on the pretty colours and lighting of this setting of despair, infuses it with Nirvana songs, and sidelines the main character in order to focus on a dashing Ewan McGregor who looks good in said pretty rooms, to forge some star-crossed lover bullshit story that comes off as completely unnatural regardless. This sucks, and I wish it came out 10 years later, since people were in the context to care about the history.

Nicole Kidman and Jim Broadbent both deliver though. It's not their fault.