Moulin Rouge (2001)

New York Times
"...There are more volatile or seductive shades of red than even Toulouse-Lautrec might have dreamed of....Mr. Luhrmann has the eye of an artist..." 05/18/2001 p.E10

Variety
"...Baz Luhrmann displays often amazing resourcefulness as he mixes a multitude of film and song styles to relate his quintessential tale of la vie boheme..." 05/14/2001 p.21-8

USA Today
"...Spectacularly drenched in color, décor and other visual oh-la-la..." 05/18/2001 p.8E

Premiere
"...Astonishing....The sweet-voiced Kidman has never been sexier....Daring..." -- 3 1/2 out of 4 stars 07/01/2001 p.82-3

Box Office
"...Stunning cinematic artistry....Dazzling....It is a powerful impression of Luhrmann as a technically dexterous visual virtuoso..." 07/01/2001 p.99

Sight and Sound
"...Breathless....McGregor's wide-eyed readiness to perform is an undiluted pleasure and he is at his most charismatic here..." 09/01/2001 p.51-2

Los Angeles Times
"...A fever dream of musical spectacle....It showcases excellent work from co-stars Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor..." 05/18/2001 p.1

ReelViews 8 of 10
Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge is a rigorously accurate historical account of events that occurred during the period between 1899 and 1900 in Paris' infamous Moulin Rouge nightclub. Luhrmann's meticulously researched motion picture uncovers several shocking truths previously unknown to historians - for example, it seems that musical luminaries like Elton John and Paul McCartney are guilty of plagiarism - songs credited to them were originally penned by a little-known songwriter named Christian and performed at the Moulin Rouge...Well, not quite...Actually, what Luhrmann has done here is to take an historical locale (the Moulin Rouge did exist around the turn of the last century, in the heart of Monmartre) and a few real people and drop them into an entirely fictional production that uses pop hits (primarily from the '70s and '80s) to populate the soundtrack. In keeping with a recent motion picture trend that anarchonistically applies modern music to period pieces, Moulin Rouge ventures down the same trail explored by the likes of Kenneth Branagh's Love's Labour's Lost and the woefully inept A Knight's Tale...Historical purists and those who enjoy only sedate films are likely to be infuriated by what Luhrmann has done here, but who cares? We live in an age of excess, and Lurhmann takes it to the hilt. There's no area in which he holds back. With a widescreen picture, more edits than any film since Requiem for a Dream, and a soundtrack that demands digital playback, Luhrmann has fashioned the template for a new kind of musical. This is as much a summer film as The Mummy Returns, but with one important difference - it's fresher and more lively. And, while my acclaim may not be as rapturous as that of those who enjoyed it during its Opening Night world premiere at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival, I am still heartily recommending it to anyone who cherishes the thought of a modern day musical spectacle. - James Berardinelli
 
Reel.com 8 of 10
"This is not your father's cinema of sitting passively in the dark, watching flickering images. Baz Luhrmann, the director who made ballroom dancing chic in Strictly Ballroom and retooled Shakespeare for the Ritalin generation with Romeo + Juliet, here presents an art director's fever-induced dream. Moulin Rouge is not something to be watched, but experienced. It's a glorious wallow in glamour and excess...The real stars of Moulin Rouge aren't Kidman and McGregor, or even director Luhrmann, but the production, art, costume, and effects teams that pulled together this phantasmagorical vision of turn-of-the-century Paris...As if to make up for the script's underdevelopment, the production pulls out all the stops with its visual style. Though the editing at times is dizzying enough to justify Dramamine sales at the candy counter, far from taking anything away from the film's pictorial aspect, the rapid-fire cutting adds another luscious layer of optical illusion." - Pam Grady
 
Chicago Sun-Times 9 of 10
Like almost every American college boy who ever took a cut-rate flight to Paris, I went to the Moulin Rouge on my first night in town. I had a cheap standing-room ticket way in the back, and over the heads of the crowd, through a haze of smoke, I could vaguely see the dancing girls. The tragedy of the Moulin Rouge is that by the time you can afford a better seat, you've outgrown the show..."Moulin Rouge" the movie is more like the Moulin Rouge of my adolescent fantasies than the real Moulin Rouge ever could be. It isn't about tired, decadent people, but about glorious romantics, who believe in the glitz and the tinsel--who see the nightclub not as a shabby tourist trap but as a stage for their dreams. Even its villain is a love-struck duke who gnashes his way into the fantasy, content to play a starring role however venal...The film is constructed like the fevered snapshots created by your imagination before an anticipated erotic encounter. It doesn't depend on dialogue or situation but on the way you imagine a fantasy object first from one angle and then another. Satine, the heroine, is seen not so much in dramatic situations as in poses--in postcards for the yearning mind. The movie is about how we imagine its world. It is perfectly appropriate that it was filmed on sound stages in Australia; Paris has always existed best in the minds of its admirers...The movie is all color and music, sound and motion, kinetic energy, broad strokes, operatic excess. While it might be most convenient to see it from the beginning, it hardly makes any difference; walk in at any moment and you'll quickly know who is good and bad, who is in love and why--and then all the rest is song, dance, spectacular production numbers, protestations of love, exhalations of regret, vows of revenge and grand destructive gestures. It's like being trapped on an elevator with the circus. - Roger Ebert