There are only a few movies that I truly appreciate, even fewer musicals to say the least. Although I am a big fan of both music and movies, the combination of the two never really caught my liking. I often find them to be dis-interesting and dragging for the most part and given any other day, I'd choose something scary bordering gore or action if given the option. I have seen some but among those I've liked or atleast tolerated a little gem stood out.
The Moulin Rouge
Frankly, I wasn't really expecting much from it. The only reason I watched it initially was because it starred one of my favorite ladies in the industry, Nicole Kidman as Satine aka "The Sparkling Diamond". A star courtesan portrayed in the beginning as a determined temptress who knows what she's got and uses it to her advantage, in the hopes of one day becoming a real actress and forever leaving the moulin rouge for a better life. She sees herself as a person who cannot love for reasons of practicality. Hinting a past, she stated love cannot keep a person fed, or housed with a roof.
All these convictions were challenged and changed once she meets the dashing Christian portrayed by Ewan Mcgregor, who takes on a character of poor but extremely talented writer/poet, whose travels take him to Paris. There he is recruited accidentally by a bunch of misfits who plan to show the world the powers and meaning of The Bohemian Revolution. It was the time of artists, painters, authors who all clamor and preach to everyone about the magic of love, freedom, beauty and truth. They wanted to do this thru a play called "Spectacular Spectacular".
The story begins with the dark reality narrated by none other than Christian himself, who is shown in a state of disarray and depression as he reveals that his love is dead (the no happy ending bit is truthfully depressing but you won't feel that affected especially since you don't know the story yet.) and then he proceeds to tell the story.
It begins where Satine mistakes Christian for "The Duke" the main antagonist of the story, who she needs to sleep with inorder to receive funding for their play. After the initial foreplay and attempt to tempt by Satine in the hopes of getting Christian aka the "mistaken duke" to invest, she is floored and smitten, completely taken aback when she witnesses his talent in poetry. The story is pretty long and I won't go into details but basically she finds out that he is nothing more than a writer who at first she is averted to, but eventually falls in love with because of his charm and honesty. They later face the challenge of keeping their love in secret especially from the duke who has taken a liking, a possesive obsession to Satine. This escalates to ofcourse them being found out and well you all have to watch what happens next to find out how it ends.
There are ofcourse a bunch of blatant clues along the way, within the movie but its not like it was meant to keep you guessing as to how it will play out. It is not a Leonardo Di Caprio film you see but it was a brilliant one none the less.
I have never ever witnessed a musical where I can truly say there was never a boring moment or wasted minutes. This was an exception. Every scene, detail served only to fuel and complete the story. The magic chemistry between the characters, the realistic portrayal of a girl in love, of hopeless romantics, of jealousy, desire, the rawness of emotions, tragedy, triumph and above all love. It was all there. There was nothing left to be desired.
The ending although clearly stated in the beginning did not leave me in shambles. It was complete, well thought of and well written.
To compare it to something palatable, its like dining on a five star hotel. You feel full afterwards but happy and content. The complete dining experience wherein the food, the company, the place, everything was in its proper place and time. And you'd surely be happy to give the biggest tip that you can because you know they deserved it.
So hats off to the cast, the producer, the author and all people involved. :) The movie was and will always be an all time classic. Thank you for bringing a great love story to life.
PS. I don't own the pictures. Any claim of ownership as per copyright is and will be accounted for.
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