Satine is a beautiful courtesan who longs to be a famous actress, and although she finds herself falling for Christian, she still keeps her eye on the prize. To this end, she agrees to be with the duke, but not physically give herself to him until the night of the show's opening, thus ensuring his full financial cooperation in the restoration of the Moulin Rouge to its former glory. However, the duke suspects her treachery and packs a clause into the contract with her boss and the Moulin Rouge's owner, Harry Zidler (Jim Broadbent) that should she leave him, the ownership of the theater defaults to him. Satine determines to leave the show biz life behind and throw caution to the wind to be with Christian, only to realize the devastation she would cause to her show family and that, together with the threat of the duke killing Christian if she doesn't break it off with him, is enough for her to forsake her love and state that "the show must go on." Sadly, Satine is unaware of the fact that she is dying of consumption, so a happy future is not in the cards for she and Christian. The inevitable end to their affair is played out in grand fashion during the opening night production of Spectacular Spectacular!
The 1900's tragic love story is told through elaborate song and dance numbers using modern music like various Beatles' songs, "The Hills Are Alive," "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend," Elton John's "Your Song" and most famously, "Lady Marmalade." While I found it a little disconcerting to watch such an "old" story told through modern song, I can't argue with the fact that the film is well done and that Baz Luhrmann has great talent, albeit strange talent. This film is not for everyone, but it is for lovers of musicals. If you don't like musicals, don't even try.
If you're a fan of Moulin Rouge! and want to know more about how the movie was made, this is definitely the version for you. There are an abundance of special features on the Blu-ray disc, including the highly interactive "Spectacular Spectacular" picture-in-picture commentary with special features. This one special feature actually provides contextually timed links to a good deal of the other special features. You can watch the film with the overlayed commentary from writer/director Luhrmann, production designer Catherine Martin, director of photography Donald McAlpine, and co-writer Craig Pearce while viewing related production materials, video, storyboards and photographs, from interesting historical information about Paris during the period in which the film is set, reference photos, information about how the special effects were done, from CGI to models, etc., as well as the writing process, you name it. The film progresses, as related information is given about the various scenes, etc. and, from time to time, icons will show in a lower corner of the screen, providing a quick link to a more in-depth featurette on the current topic of discussion. If you choose to follow the link, the video switches to the featurette and then, upon its conclusion, returns you to the exact spot you left, which provides a nice way to select specific featurettes you really are interested in watching.
Among the items that can be launched from inside of "Spectacular Spectacular" or on their own from the Special Features menu are the "Bazmark Vault," which has lots of uncut footage from the filming process, featurettes on the stars, the music, the writers, and the design of the sets, costumes and special effects.
Fans of writer/director Baz Luhrmann may enjoy a "Word from Baz," where he explains the creative approach that Moulin Rouge! took to producing a Blu-ray version, as well as "Creative Adventure" and "House of Iona" which take a look at how Luhrmann and Catherine Martin work together, from their relationship to their work environment.
Also included is "The Toulouse Tonight," a web series made to promote the film, as well as the theatrical trailer, a Japanese trailer and "Around the World with Moulin Rouge," a compilation of footage taken from premieres from around the globe.
Undoubtedly, while Moulin Rouge! is not for everyone, it is the consummate musical with its elaborate sets and costumes and rich library of music. Even if you already own a copy of the film on DVD, if you are a huge fan, invest in the Blu-ray version. All of the special features may be incentive alone to re-purchase it, but high def is the way this movie should be viewed and the look and sound of it is truly breathtaking. This film is an excellent example of why one should convert to Blu-ray, so show it to your non-Blu-ray-owning buddies and make believers out of them.
