Moulin Rouge!

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Template:Infobox Film Moulin Rouge! is a 2001 Academy Award winning musical film directed by Baz Luhrmann. It tells the story of a young British poet, Christian, who falls in love with the star of the Moulin Rouge cabaret actress and courtesan, Satine. It uses the colourful musical setting of the Montmartre Quarter of Paris, France. Some plot details, specifically the poor artist and his dying lover, bear relation to the Giacomo Puccini opera La bohème (which Baz Luhrmann has also directed several times), including references to the "Bohemian" subculture. Otherwise, the plot greatly resembles that of Giuseppe Verdi's opera La Traviata, especially the end. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture and the Academy Award for Best Actress for Nicole Kidman, but won only the Academy Award for Best Costume Design and the Academy Award for Best Art Direction. The film was shot entirely at Fox Studios in Sydney, Australia.

Five other movies with the title Moulin Rouge have been made.

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Description

Moulin Rouge! is a cinematic opera that has a storyline and structure that is said to be inspired and influenced largely by Italian grand opera: exuberant music, colourful visuals, elaborate sets and costumes. It also has some elements of Bollywood filmsTemplate:Fact such as a simple story line with a simple conflict, an heroine with melodramatic disease and two-dimensional characters.

The film takes well-known popular songs and modifies them to fit into a tale of a turn-of-the-20th-century Paris cabaret, blending swirling camera motion, loud music, and dancing to powerful effectTemplate:Fact. Some of the songs it samples include "Chamma Chamma" from the Hindi movie China Gate, David Bowie's cover of the eden ahbez jazz standard "Nature Boy", "Lady Marmalade" by LaBelle (the Christina Aguilera/Pink/Mya/Lil Kim cover having been commissioned for this film), Madonna's "Like a Virgin", the titular song of "The Sound of Music", and "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana—all within the film's first twenty minutes. The film uses so much popular music that it took Baz Luhrmann two years to secure all the rights to the songsTemplate:Fact.

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Primary cast

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Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Image:Paris.moulin.750pix.jpg The theme of the movie is love and its age-old conflict with wealth and materialism. The main character, Christian (Ewan McGregor), is a writer who comes to Paris at the height of the Bohemian movement—a city of artists, parties, and absinthe. He falls in love with the main singer of the Moulin Rouge cabaret, Satine (Nicole Kidman), who unknowingly suffers from a terminal case of tuberculosis.

Satine is a worldly and beautiful courtesan who lives by the theme "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend" - it is better to have money than love - but she dreams of becoming a real actress. Through mistaken identity, Satine believes Christian is the Duke who will invest in the cabaret's new show, keep everyone employed, and make her a star. Meeting him in the Elephant Room for a tryst to seal the deal, Satine is at first taken with Christian's poetry (a medley of 20th century love songs) but is shocked to realize he's actually a penniless Bohemian poet. The real Duke arrives and catches them together. Christian's quick wit and Satine's charm fool the Duke into believing that they were rehearsing their new show, "Spectacular Spectacular." Christian, with the help of Satine and the Bohemians, quickly improvises the show's plot: an Indian-themed musical spectacular, also on the theme of love in conflict with power. The Duke is impressed and agrees to support the show, but he quickly reveals that he is a violently jealous man who will shut down the Moulin Rouge if he does not get Satine. Nevertheless, he accepts that she will be busy with rehearsals and in close contact with Christian, the writer.

Christian and Satine fall in love, while Harry Zidler, the Moulin Rouge's manager, struggles to keep the Duke interested in the show even though Satine has not yet spent the night with him. At length, the Duke realizes he is being cuckolded, tries to take Satine by force, and threatens to kill Christian. Satine, at Zidler's urging, tells Christian she never loved him, hoping he will leave town and escape the Duke's wrath.

At the show's debut, Satine, now aware that she has only hours to live, performs a weary version of "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend." An angry and hurt Christian takes the place of the show's hero, throws money at her feet, and storms off publicly. Although dying and fearing for his life, Satine successfully calls him back, and they are reconciled in full view of the audience and the Duke. The show ends in success, but afterwards, in the dark backstage area, Satine dies in Christian's arms, begging him at the last to write their story down for others to read. Half a year later, Christian keeps his promise, and we see that the Moulin Rouge is now empty and has fallen into disrepair. Template:Endspoiler

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Soundtrack

The following is a partial list of songs featured in the film along with the artist that popularized them.

Elephant Love Medley

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Distinctions

Award wins:

Award nominations:

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External links

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