macro study: Moulin Rouge!

Film studies AS: Macro study                                 Lise descamps

Directed by
Baz Luhrmann

Writing credits
Baz Luhrmann      (written by) & Craig Pearce  (written by)

Cast (in credits order) 

	Nicole Kidman	...	Satine
	Ewan McGregor	...	Christian
	John Leguizamo	...	Toulouse-Lautrec
	Jim Broadbent	...	Harold Zidler
	Richard Roxburgh	...	The Duke

Genre and Narrative

The genre of the film Moulin Rouge is according to the imbd website: romance, drama and musical. It was released in 2001 on the 7^th of September in the UK. The film was not made in the UK though; it was filmed in Australia and in the USA.

Synopsis:

 The story is about a poor writer called Christian, who moves to Montmartre in Paris to write about love. He had an obsession about love, but his problem was that he had never been in love before. Then, one day, he meets Toulouse Lautrec and he offers Christian a job as a writer for a play for the Moulin Rouge. That is where he meets Satine. Satine works in the Moulin Rouge and therefor she does not believe in love. She sells hers to men. However when she meets Christian she changes completely and they fall in love. The problem is that someone has to invest in the play. And that someone is the duke. The duke wants to invest on only one condition: Satine has to sleep with him the night before the show. This is how all the trouble begins. The duke wants Satine, but Satine wants Christian. The film is about two people who have to hide their love and fight to be able to stay with each other.

Genre

Situation:

A typical situation in a romantic drama is forbidden love. The fact that two lovers can’t be together. In Moulin Rouge this situation is used as well. Christian and Satine can’t be together, because the duke would not invest in the play anymore if he would find out about them. That is why they have to hide their love. This situation was also used in for example: Romeo + Juliet, Tristan and Isolde…

Theme:

The main theme in every romantic film is of course love. But in Moulin Rouge there are other themes as well such as jealousy, loyalty and good vs. evil. In one scene in the film Satine has to go to the duke to sleep with him. This is of course very painful for Christian and it makes him jealous to see the duke kissing with the woman he loves. Loyalty appears in the scene after this one. Right before the duke tries to sleep with her she ran away to Christian just because she could not do it and because she wanted to be loyal to him. The good vs. evil is then of course Christian vs. the duke. The viewer wants Satine to choose Christian. They live with the good character. Most viewers always hate the evil character which is in this case the duke.

Locations and backdrops:

The main location in this film is obviously the nightclub Moulin Rouge. A nightclub is a set used in a lot of romantic films, especially romantic comedies. The set is also very colourful which can be linked to happiness, joy, parties and of course love. Because in this sort of location where people are dancing and having fun, romance is something that could appear quickly. So when a viewer is watching this film and sees a lot of colours, people dancing and a nightclub they probably will connect this to the romantic film genre.

Intertextuality:

A lot of intertextuality is used in this film. Every song they sing is an already existing song. They choose the most famous songs of the 20^th century and mixed those together into new songs. None of their songs is a new one. They did change them that much that you might think that. But they are all love songs written by for example Elton John, U2 or John Lennon.

Iconography:

In many scenes in the film you can see the heart-shaped window in the elephant, which is Satine’s room. This gigantic heart refers to how great their love is. In some scenes of the film they also use fireworks. These fireworks are always used when they are kissing. That is a symbol for happiness and for the ‘fireworks’ they feel when they kiss each other. It is always linked to something good.

Narrative

Single strand:

Single strand means that the film revolves around the adventures of a single character. Moulin Rouge mainly revolves around Christian and what happened to him when he met Satine.

Non-linear:

In non-linear films the story is often told in a flashback. This is exactly what Baz Luhrmann did with his film. In the beginning you can see Christian writing his story that happened one year ago. While his writing the viewer can see what he is writing about. So the whole film is one big flashback. Sometimes they even go back to show him writing his story, so the time in which it is set changes all the time.

Closed structure:

Closed structure is mostly associated with film and may revolve around a central character and ends with a particular film, play, story or game.  It is one big story and it is told in just one ‘episode’. There will not be a sequel to this story, because by the way it is written the story is closed at the ending.

Cause and effect:

Cause and effect means that one event causes another to happen and so on, as the narrative progresses. In Moulin Rouge everything that happens is caused by something that happened before. For example when Harold Zidler signs the contract with the duke he actually sells Satine to him. The contract says that Satine has to sleep with the duke whenever he wants her to. This causes the fact that Satine can’t be with Christian. There are other lies in the film that Harold Zidler tells and they all have a bad effect on someone’s life.

Closure:

The ending of a film can be open-ended or close-ended. Moulin Rouge is a close-ended or not ambiguous film. At the ending Satine dies in Christian’s arms. Someone’s death is always a close-ending, because it literally means the end of something. After that scene you can see that he finishes writing his book and that shows us that he is finally ready to move on with his life without her.

Narrative theorist: Syd Field

I have chosen for the narrative theorist Syd Field, because the storyline fits very well with Field’s structure.

Opening image:  In the beginning of the film Christian immediately says that the woman he loved is dead so you know what is going to happen. They also sing in the ‘spectacular spectacular song’ what is going to happen in the play, but the viewer does realise that the story in the play will be exactly the same as Christian’s and Satine’s story.

Inciting incident: This happens in the scene where Christian meets Satine and they fall in love. It is in the same scene that they know they will have a problem with being together, because Christian is just a poor writer and Satine is supposed to seduce the duke.

Turning point 1: The first turning point is when Christian and Satine kiss for the very first time and they immediately realise that they are causes a lot of trouble by giving in to their feelings for each other.

Pinch 1: The scene where Satine has to go to the duke to sleep with him the night before the show. That is the reminder that their love really is impossible, that they can’t be together.

Midpoint: The midpoint in Moulin Rouge is when Satine goes to Christian and says to him that she could not sleep with the duke, because she loves him too much. In this scene they decide to run away from the Moulin Rouge so they could be together. Her there could be a dramatic change in the story.

Pinch 2: The scene in which she starts packing to leave the Moulin Rouge with Christian is where the second pinch comes along. Harold Zidler sees her packing and reminds her of her contract that she has to stay with the duke and that being an actress is her dream. He convinces her to stay to pursue that dream. When Satine still decides to leave with Christian, Harold tells her that she is dying. He also tells her that if she runs away the duke’s men will kill Christian and because he is such a powerful man she knows that he can and will do that. 

Turning point 2: This is the scene where she goes to Christian to tell him that he has to leave her alone, because she never really loved him. This is all just a lie to keep him save from the duke, but he does not know this. He gets thrown out of the Moulin Rouge heartbroken. Later he goes back to find out what is really going on.

Showdown:  One of the last scenes is the showdown. It is the scene in which the duke gets thrown out of the Moulin Rouge during the show and when Christian and Satine can finally be together. It is not a happy ending though. Satine is dying. Right after the show she falls down in Christian’s arms and dies.

Resolution: In the very last scene you can see Christian writing his last words of his book. Now that he has told their story his finally ready to move on with his life and this is how the film ends.