Review of Moulin Rouge! (2001) by Jacob R — 03 May 2015

I don't really understand the praise this movie gets. I am going to be completely honest, this is some of the worst writing, character development, cinematography, and editing I've ever witnessed. I'll explain why.

The writing is bad because in the beginning of the movie, Christian, played by Ewan McGregor, claims it is about "Truth, Beauty, Freedom, and Love" yet none of these themes are really explored or analyzed. What is truth, beauty, and freedom? None of them are even remotely addressed in the film. As for love...it just just the characters saying the word 'love' so many times that if you play a drinking game where you take a shot where the word 'love' is said or sang, I guarantee that you'll end up in an intensive care unit.

This leads me to character development. The romance between Christian and Satine, played by Nicole Kidman, is not very interesting becuase they are not very interesting themselves. McGregor's poet wants to discover the themes that were addressed and hopes to create a brilliant play. So far so good, but there's more. After being taken to a room to have intimacy with Satine being mistaken for a duke who is supposed to fund her Satine's 'real dream', he falls for her while she's acting deranged in an attempt to seduce him. As for Satine, she seems incredibly shallow. She is the star of the bordello called Moulin Rouge where she is hailed as Aphrodite by large crowds on a nightly basis. But when she talks to Zidler, played by Jim Broadbent, about the possibility of the Moulin Rouge being turned into a theater she says that she'll finally become a 'real actress.' This would come off better if she expressed that she wanted to be taken more seriously and do dramatic plays instead of being just a dancer, it would work, but the way the movie sets it up, she comes off as spoiled and shallow.

The cinematography and editing are a train wreck for two reasons. The first is that it fails to focus on what's going on. If there are any redeeming qualities in this film it would be the sets and costumes which are fantastic but the camera moves so fast that you can't see them. Second, the movie seems to believe that moving the camera quickly during scenes that are supposed to be intense, will make them intense. It doesn't. This problem occurs in the 'Can-can' sequence where there is certainly intense dancing going on but the camera moves so fast that, once again, the scene lacks focus.

This is a movie that I really want to enjoy. I can see the effort in the set and costume design. I'll even claim that the dancers and actors are invested in their characters (even though they're terribly written characters). The acting and dancing are far from what holds this film back. The editing, cinematography, writing and characters do and it's a major disappointment.