Moulin Rouge
'Truth, beauty, freedom, and most of all, love '. This is what Moulin Rouge is about. Good morning ladies and gentlemen. Moulin Rouge is the movie musical that merges fin-de-siecle decadence of the French Musical with modernised film directing skill which was done by a famous Australian director, Baz Luhrmann. This movie belongs to two genres, the romance and the musical. However, Baz Luhrmann subverted the typical conventions of the genre by re imaging historical trapping of the narrative which peacefully coexists with the anachronistic insertions of today’s popular culture. This point will be proven by the story line with an escapist vision of reality, music and background of the movie. Welcome to Moulin Rouge. First of all, Moulin Rouge has a different topic of story line. Generally, musicals are about an alternative, escapist vision of reality such as love, wealth, success and popularity. Moulin Rouge concerns love, however it is not simply the love between two major characters, Christian (Ewan McGregor) and Satine (Nicole Kidman). It is about the love of writers, actors, courtesan and all members of musical, towards Moulin Rouge, the musical. Baz Luhrmann subverted this aspect because he wanted to show Moulin Rouge is the ‘love’ itself and is where all love starts. Also by setting male major character as a penniless writer, Baz Luhrmann might attempted to show the true life of writers and their passion and love towards their musicals and movies. Not only is the topic of storyline subverted, but also the ending of storyline differs from other romance movies. Audience expects positive and happy ending from romance movies. However, Baz Luhrmann pursued and achieved the success of romanticism an unexpected way. The love between Christian and Satine had to go through hardships and privations just as other romance movie, but in the end, the red curtain of Moulin Rouge closes with tragedy, the death of Satine. Moulin Rouge’s lush romanticism meshes audience
Bibliography: Moulin Rouge Movie Review [Online] Available: http://www.mediacircus.net/moulinrouge.html The Phantom Tollbooth [Online] Available: http://www.tollbooth.org/2001/movies/moulinrouge.html