“Moulin Rouge!” (2001)

Moulin Rouge!

Grade: A-

Moulin Rouge! is a love-it-or-hate-it film, and I admit to hating it at first. I thought the ostentatious style was too overbearing and over-the-top, with seemingly no rhyme nor reason to any of director Baz Luhrmann’s bewildering artistic decisions. I mean, is nothing sacred to this guy? There’s a poorly CGI’d Kylie Minogue twerking as an absinthe-induced green fairy, followed by a pornographic ensemble mash-up of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend,” and that’s just the first 15 minutes! But then, once I got used to the garishness, it all started to make some sick, twisted sense, and I’ve more or less loved the movie ever since (or “until my dying day,” as the climactic chorus goes). Experimental trash, shameless kitsch, extreme camp — the tastelessness is the point.

To make a mess like this work, everyone needs to be fully committed to the bit. Luhrmann, of course, throws every filmmaking technique at the screen just to see what sticks, with an intoxicating, maximalist mise en scène that’s essentially avant-garde by accident. The cast, too, has fanatical fun with the musical material, completely unafraid to look ridiculous. But what really sells the performance is their absolute sincerity. Actors Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman cut through the postmodern pastiche to extract true romance from all the artifice, lending credence to the film’s larger-than-life (and somewhat simplistic) emotions. It’s why song-and-dance numbers like “Elephant Love Medley” and “El Tango de Roxanne” are so moving: despite all the visual distraction, the earnestness is the point. As far as jukebox musicals go, Moulin Rouge‘s ability to take modern pop songs and reinvent them into something completely new is unprecedented. Luhrmann’s best work, by far.

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More by Nicole Kidman

• Eyes Wide Shut (1999) A+
• Moulin Rouge! (2001) A-

More by Ewan McGregor

• Moulin Rouge! (2001) A-
• Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (2021) B

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