Moulin Rouge 2001

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Moulin Rouge ★★★ 2001 (PG-13)

Luhrmann resurrects the famed Parisian/ Montmartre nightclub decadence in his surreal quasi 1899-set movie musical that stars Kidman as the club's star singer/ dancer/courtesan Satine, who entrances McGregor's naive poet, Christian. Naturally, their love is doomed—in part because she has this nasty cough. Leguizamo shows up as artist Toulouse Lautrec. Luhrmann likes to shake up staid genres (witness “Strictly Ballroom” and “Romeo + Juliet”) and in this case he married pop music (uneasily) with extraordinary elaborate visuals. This doesn't always work but the director deserves points for sheer chutzpah and Kidman has never looked more stunning. 126m/C VHS, DVD . AU US Nicole Kidman, Ewan McGregor, John Leguizamo, Jim Broadbent, Garry McDonald, Kylie Minogue, Richard Roxburgh, David Wenham, Natalie Mendoza; D: Baz Luhrmann; W: Baz Luhrmann, Craig Pearce; C: Donald McAlpine; M: Craig Armstrong. Oscars ‘01: Art Dir./Set Dec., Costume Des.; Australian Film Inst. ‘01: Cinematog., Costume Des., Film Editing, Sound; British Acad. ‘01: Sound, Support. Actor (Broadbent), Score; Golden Globes ‘02: Actor—Mus./Comedy, Actress—Mus./Comedy (Kidman), Score; L.A. Film Critics ‘01: Support. Actor (Broadbent); Natl. Bd. of Review ‘01: Film, Support. Actor (Broadbent).