Kickin’ it: previous pages, Nicole Kidman as Satine, the ‘Sparkling Diamond’
in the modestly named ‘Spectacular Spectacular’ number |
The story of Moulin Rouge, says Baz Luhrmann, echoes the Orpheus myth - the one about a young poet-musician who descended into the underworld in search of ideal love. “It’s a myth about idealism and adulthood, and the recognition that life throws up things beyond our control: the death of loved ones and relationships that don’t last,” explains Luhrmann, who co-wrote (with Craig Pearce) and directed the film. “According to the Orphean myth, this will either destroy you, or you’ll go into the underworld, face it and return having grown from the experience.”
Moulin Rouge’s Orpheus is Ewan McGregor’s Christian, whose love affair with the courtesan Satine ends in tragedy. But, in the film, the same myth is also central to what Luhrmann calls his ‘Red Curtain’ theatrical style, which was also evident in his two earlier films, Strictly Ballroom and William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet.
Moulin Rouge - which opens this year’s Cannes Film Festival - blends the Orpheus myth with turn-of-the-century Paris, contemporary pop music and some mind-blowing special effects. Oh, and Nicole Kidman sings. It is, in other words, the new film from director Baz Luhrmann (Strictly Ballroom, Romeo + Juliet).
Andrew L Urban reports.
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“We take a simple story based on a recognisable primary myth and set it in a heightened, created world that is at once exotic yet also recognisable,” he notes. In this case, the world is that of Paris at the turn of the century, when artists like Toulouse Lautrec were reinventing painting. So, too, Luhrmann is reinventing the film musical in almost every department.
Moulin Rouge is a musical fantasy about love and inspiration set in the infamous, dangerous and glamorous Parisian nightclub of the same name. But there are numerous apparent anachronisms: the film blends period with contemporary pop through its use of established songs, which are featured in both innovative contexts and unexpected arrangements.
Nicole Kidman plays Satine, the club’s most notorious star, who is forced to choose between a young writer’s inspiration and another man’s obsession; while McGregor’s Christian is the writer who finds himself plunged into this decadent world where anything goes - except falling in love.
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“Nicole sings like a kind of Marlene Dietrich. She’s not Whitney Houston but she can kick it!”
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Kidman and McGregor are acknowledged as actors. But, asked the world, can they sing? As usual, Luhrmann defies expectations - not just those of the audience, but those of the industry and even of his cast. Kidman’s remark that she “would find that, if I was to sing I couldn’t do it. But if I sang as Satine, I could”, adds weight to the growing belief that Luhrmann is some kind of cinematic shaman, egging his actors and his crew on to things they have never previously attempted on film.
The actress, however, reveals the secret pact she made with McGregor. “Ewan and I had a tacit agreement that we’d support each other throughout, taking risks, and be willing to make complete fools of ourselves in front of each other,” she says.
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