Susan Granger’s review of “MOULIN ROUGE” (20th Century-Fox)
In this frenzied, feverish, Fellini-esque fairy tale, set in bohemian Paris, circa. 1900, Australian filmmaker Baz Luhrmann traces the tragic love story of Christian (Ewan McGregor), a penniless British writer, who falls in love with Satine (Nicole Kidman), a captivating chanteuse-courtesan at the Moulin Rouge. Supposedly, the concept came from the Orphean myth of the young poet-musician who descended to the underworld in search of ideal love, but the storyline is basically a deconstruction of “La Boheme,” hurtling maniacally from clichŽ to convention, from artful to artifice – punctuated by contemporary music. Lacking a consistent style, rhythm and pacing, the musical numbers range from David Bowie singing “Nature Boy” (a Nat “King” Cole hit of the ’50s) to Nicole warbling Marilyn Monroe’s “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend,” coupled with Madonna’s “Material Girl,” while perched on a flying trapeze, to Ewan McGregor’s interpretation of “The Sound of Music” and “All You Need Is Love.” It’s not even remotely believable, and there is no emotional connection with either of the leads who have sweet, pleasant singing voices. Nicole Kidman is icy, porcelain perfection, barely melting to Ewan McGregor’s spirited, eager ardor, while John Leguizamo cavorts as Toulouse-Lautrec and Jim Broadbent blusters as the impresario. What’s most remarkable are the outrageous, over-the-top production numbers, costumes and settings, particularly the surreal, three-story Indian-style “elephant,” containing the Red Room where Satine stages her seductions. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Moulin Rouge” is a gaudy, grotesque, stupefying 4. Credit Baz Luhrmann with inventive originality but it’s all style with no substance. They just don’t make musicals the way they used to!
