Template:Infobox Movie (2) Moulin Rouge! is a 2001 musical film which tells the story of a young British poet, Christian, who falls in love with the star of the Moulin Rouge cabaret, 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. The plot was also inspired by the Greek myth of Orpheus in the Underworld and echoes the story of Giuseppe Verdi's opera La Traviata.
Description
Moulin Rouge! has a storyline and structure that is said to be inspired and influenced by Bollywood movies: exuberant music, colourful visuals, elaborate sets and costumes, simple story line with a simple conflict, heroine with melodramatic disease, two-dimensional characters, and songs adopted from contemporary musicians. It includes a popular Hindi movie song near the end. Other songs sampled include "Nature Boy" by Nat King Cole, "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 Lurhmann two years to secure all the rights to the songs.
The film takes established rock music 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 effect. However, it depends heavily on suspension of disbelief and must be approached on its own terms.
Primary cast:
- Nicole Kidman: Satine
- Ewan McGregor: Christian
- John Leguizamo: Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
- Jim Broadbent: Harold Zidler
- Richard Roxburgh: The Duke
- Garry McDonald: The Doctor
- Matthew Whittet: Satie
- Kylie Minogue: The Green Fairy
- Plácido Domingo: Voice of Man in the Moon
Plot summary
The theme of the movie is love and the everlasting conflict with its opposite numbers, wealth and materialism. The main character (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. A complicated love plot develops similar to that of Shakespeare in Love.
Moulin Rouge! can be compared to 1998 Academy Award for Best Picture Shakespeare in Love. Both are romantic-dramatic-comedy films based on the same plotline : a play writer falls in love with an actress promised to a nobleman. Both follow the same twist, conflict and choises, with a dramatic end for the lovers. Part of the plot is that the written play (Spectacular Spectacular for Moulin Rouge! and Romeo and Juliet for Shakespeare in Love) is heavily influenced by the events in the characters world, and that the jealous nobleman tries at some point to kill the writer. The main difference is that Moulin Rouge! focuses on singing while Shakespeare in Love focuses on Shakespeare's life.
Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor did their own singing for the film. The necklace worn by Nicole Kidman was made of 1,308 real diamonds and platinum. It was worth an estimated $1 million.
Five other movies with the title Moulin Rouge have been made.
Soundtrack
The following is a partial list of songs featured in the film along with the artist that popularized them.
- The Sound of Music - Mary Martin (and later by Julie Andrews) (from the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical of the same name)
- The Lonely Goatherd - also from The Sound of Music (but heard as instrumental)
- Lady Marmalade - Patti LaBelle
- Nature Boy - Nat King Cole
- Rhythm of the Night - Debarge
- Material Girl - Madonna
- Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana
- Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend - Carol Channing (later, and more noteably, by Marilyn Monroe)
- Diamond Dogs - David Bowie
- One Day I'll Fly Away - The Crusaders, later Randy Crawford among others
- Children of the Revolution - T.Rex
- Gorecki - Lamb
- Roxanne - The Police
- The Show Must Go On - Queen
- Like a Virgin - Madonna
- Your Song - Sir Elton John
Elephant Love Medley
- All You Need Is Love - The Beatles
- I Was Made for Lovin' You - KISS
- One More Night - Phil Collins
- Pride (In The Name Of Love) - U2
- Don't Leave Me this Way - Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes (later Thelma Houston, among others)
- Silly Love Songs - Paul McCartney and Wings
- Up Where We Belong - Buffy Sainte-Marie, Will Jennings and Jack Nitzsche for An Officer and a Gentleman (later a hit for Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes)
- Heroes - David Bowie
- I Will Always Love You - Dolly Parton (and later by Whitney Houston)
Distinctions
Award wins:
- Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
- Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy (Nicole Kidman)
- Academy Award for Art Direction-Set Decoration (Catherine Martin & Brigitte Broch)
- Academy Award for Costume Design (Catherine Martin & Angus Strathie)
- Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score - Motion Picture (Craig Armstrong)
Award nominations:
- Academy Award for Best Picture
- Academy Award for Best Actress (Nicole Kidman)
- Academy Award for Best Cinematography (Donald McAlpine)
- Academy Award for Film Editing (Jill Bilcock)
- Academy Award for Makeup (Maurizio Silvi & Aldo Signoretti)
- Academy Award for Sound (Andy Nelson, Anna Behlmer, Roger Savage, Guntis Sics)
- Golden Globe Award for Best Director - Motion Picture (Baz Luhrmann)
- Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy (Ewan McGregor)
- Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song - Motion Picture (David Baerwald - song "Come What May")
- Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media
'Chanel' 4
On November 20 2004, Channel 4 of the UK broadcast Moulin Rouge! at 9pm, the premiere on British terrestrial television. During the commercial break at 9:20pm, Chanel premiered their Moulin Rouge!-inspired advert for their signature Chanel No.5 fragrance starring Nicole Kidman, and directed by Baz Lurhmann.
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