Moulin Rouge!

Although the makers if this tried to remain on the brink of bearable and laughably bombastic kitsch soft porn, all too often this slips into a stupid, noisy (I don’t think there is one second of silence here or no scenes where someone isn’t jumping around, screaming, whistling etc.) patchwork full of cuts, certainly worthy of an entry in the Guinness Book of Records. However, once in a while it calms down and looks good, and so for instance during the tango or the live scene with Satine and Krystian, all of these criticisms move aside, because at these times Moulin Rouge is simply flawless. A shame that there aren’t more similarly powerful moments in this movie, but on the other hand there aren’t that few of them really. (28/12/2006)

Sometimes I tell myself that it's hardly possible for there to exist such a precisely balanced border between deafening noise and indescribable beauty. A highly romantic affair, in which a tremendous amount of tension lies hidden, led by my favorite film scene of all time: The hiding of the main couple, ingeniously built up to the perfect Because she doesn't love you! moment. The pinnacle of cinematography and the most emotionally captivating affair. Thank you, Mr. Luhrmann, for the best film I have ever seen. (23/12/2004)

In the first fifteen minutes or so I was already saying that it is unbearably over-styled, tasteless, bullshit… and wasn’t far from turning it off. But then – and I didn’t notice exactly when it happened – I realised how much I was enjoying it. I don’t think I ever had such a total change of opinion while watching a film. I can’t provide a sufficiently reasonable explanation why I’m giving five stars to this piece of kitsch, but I just can’t help it. (21/08/2009)

An absolutely breathtaking spectacle from an editing standpoint, culminating in the incredible "Roxanne" sequence, which is an audiovisual work of art in its own right. For a generally commercial musical with an average shot length of around a second, Luhrmann has my sincere respect, but I guess that's where it ends. Most of the time, the whole concept was a walk through hell – creepy characters, horrible developments, incredibly stupid humor (three penis jokes, hohoho) or horrible plots and subplots built on mistaken identity and allegories. The film exploits each of these endlessly, and even this is not enough, so that after one of the plots is over, the film turns around and repeats it again (Satine and Christian breaking up)! Then, if during the musical numbers you also feel as if you've fallen asleep under a broken jukebox after a bottle of absinthe, with the top 20 most played songs playing over and over again, I welcome you to the therapy of "Moulin Rouge tried to beat me to death." During our first class, your therapy assignment will be to throw the camera through the spinning blades of the mill. We have 30 attempts at this, so you don't have to feel bad about it. The movie sure didn't feel bad about it. (01/11/2018)

I think I first saw this film on TV when I was fifteen, and as befits that sentimental age, I properly cried. The next day, I already had the soundtrack on MP3 and I didn't listen to anything else for six months. After almost fifteen years, when I am that much older, I had the opportunity to see Moulin Rouge on the big screen as part of the musical package at SFS 2018. My love for this film is obviously undying, because despite having seen it maybe 50 times, I had more fun than ever. The atmosphere in the auditorium was amazing and it was clear that I was surrounded by like-minded fans. Proof of that was the applause that followed the "Like a Virgin" scene. Another amazing moment was when the naively blinded Duke realizes that Christian and Satine are in love, and many people in the room gasped in horror at that moment, and I thought: there are some lucky people who haven't seen the film yet, and I was a little jealous. I thoroughly enjoyed this colourful, kitsch and pompous ride, devouring every moment, singing every song in my head, tapping my foot to every rhythm, laughing at the crazy scenes and shedding a tear at "Your Song" when in the first seconds of Christian's great singing Satine finally shuts up and the night Paris lights up. What else can I praise? The perfect mix of songs, brilliantly performed? The great performances that are moving but also entertaining? The great choreographies? The costumes and sets? I wish I could still raise the rating because Moulin Rouge is perfect and spectacular in every way and I can't wait to watch it again. (04/09/2018)