Someday I'll try to get my act together enough to write a full post about my primal response to Moulin Rouge. I touched on it here. I know I'm always saying this movie or that movie "changed my life" - and if that makes you roll your eyes (and I know that's the case with some people out there - maybe not roll their eyes at me, specifically, but for anyone who says "that song changed my life", or whatever - people make fun of people who talk like that) then ... well, I can't change that. I am dramatic, yes. But I am also honest. But I have never - and I mean NEVER - had such a response to a movie. I was in a bad bad way when I first came across it - I saw it in 2002. And that film ... helped me to keep going. Literally. My poor roommate. She had to deal with me watching it once a day. She was the essence of patience, as I pressed "Play" again on the same damn video.
Anyway. I'm listening to the soundtrack right now - and once again - my response to it is so powerful (and irrational - which is probably why I haven't really written about it yet - hard to describe a primal life-force response to something) - that I can feel it in my body all over again. The throat-tightening sensation of hope ... hope coming alive again ... after disappointment ... after giving up ... The knowing inside that this too shall pass ... knowing that life will go on ... And even a heartache like THIS one will pass. Not go away. But will pass.
When I hear Ewan McGregor sing "Your Song" ... that's what I remember. Not with my mind. But with all 5 senses.
It's so so moving to me. It's such an open-throated exhilarated version of that song ... I don't even know if he sings it well ... To me, it's irrelevant.
It's just that ... he puts his heart and soul into singing it. He holds nothing back. It also doesn't depend upon seeing the film ... I'm listening to it now as just a piece of music ... and I feel that soul-lift all over again.
Weird. I know the criticisms of the film. And I probably agree with a lot of them. It's a headache, it's all splash no substance, it's too flashy, too many quick cuts ... But in the end, that doesn't matter. It was my heart that responded to that movie, my soul - it got inside me. It just ... helped me to keep going in a very very dark period in my life.
Wild, too, how the memory of that is so powerful, and still remains in the soundtrack. So often when you have those primal first-impression responses to something- a piece of music, a book, a movie, whatever ... when you go back to it years later, often the impression doesn't last. Whatever magic or power the piece originally had has faded with time.
Not so for me with Moulin Rouge. I can barely think of that movie and what it "did for me" without getting all choked up.
I look at this photo and see such joy - such perfection. And hope. Hope that love is possible. I know it's crazy, but that's what I see. Somehow, all of that is encapsulated in his face. I look at his face and I feel intense hope.
Some things are just magic. And you can't explain why.
Posted by sheilaYes! Great movie! I don't know why I was so proud of Nicole Kidman. I didn't just enjoy her performance. I was proud of her for her singing and very happy for her. I don't think I've ever been hapy for or proud of an actor.
Posted by: Patrick at September 28, 2005 5:32 PMPatrick - I know just what you mean. I thought she was amazing. That first number when she descends on the swing ... just takes my breath away.
And how HE watches that number ... you just "get" how he falls in love with her instantly.
Posted by: red at September 28, 2005 5:34 PMSuddenly the world seems such a perfect place
Suddenly it moves with such a perfect grace
Suddenly my life doesn't seem such a waste
It all revolves around you
And there's no mountain too high
No river too wide
Sing out this song and I'll be there by your side
Storm clouds may gather
And stars may collide
But I love you until the end of time
This was the movie that I thought: "Nicole is too good for Tom Cruise".
Posted by: JFH at September 28, 2005 5:53 PMI remember the night I first saw the movie like it was yesterday. Our kids had just finished school and were spending the weekend with their grandparents, so we had a rare night out. After dinner, my wife literally had to drag me into the theater to see it; for some reason I just didn't think I would like it. And immediately I was transfixed - just completely, totally enthralled. The moment when Nicole first descends from the "heavens" still gives me the chills. Before that, the last movie that affected me that way was "Pulp Fiction." Quite a pair, I know...
Posted by: Jeff at September 28, 2005 6:45 PMWhat i tell critics of the film is that it isn't really about film technique or anything; it's about pure, visceral emotional response. And on that level, it really is perfect.
I had to hunt to find the two-disc DVD version, but it was worth it to get the extended dance sequences. Tango De Roxanne is just amazing.
And for the record, I cry EVERY SINGLE TIME Ewan gives that keening wail when Satine dies. Even when I think I'm prepared for it, it still slices through my chest and leaves me blubbering like a baby.
Posted by: TeacherDave at September 28, 2005 6:54 PMJeff - God, thank you! I am so glad to know it wasn't just me!!
Posted by: red at September 28, 2005 8:12 PMDave - your comment brought this huge lump to my throat. Yes - something might be "imperfect" in an objective form-related sense - but "perfect" in other ways - because it just expressed exactly what it wanted to express!! Moulin Rouge, to me, was a flat-out raw expression of what Baz Luhrman wanted to say/
And yes - there is something in Ewan McGregor's performance - the whole thing - that just nails it. He is so THERE. It's so vulnerable, so real ... Beautiful.
I found his work in particular to be so healing.
Posted by: red at September 28, 2005 8:16 PMHow wonderful and weird was John Leguiziano, too? As Toulouose latrec??
Posted by: red at September 28, 2005 8:39 PMThis is one of my favorite movies. Saw it at Piper's Alley and afterwards, Rick & I couldn't even really go home. We went across the street to a local tavern and just kind of sat there. Occassionally, we'd just be like, "did you have any idea Ewan McGregor could sing?" or "How about that one scene where...". It kind of left me speechless. I was a little skeptical that I would like it... thinking it might be too, I don't know, out there. I enjoyed the first few scenes but LOST it the minute Ewan did "Your Song". After that, I was hooked.
Posted by: Ann Marie at September 28, 2005 10:10 PMann - yeah, I was skeptical about it too and didn't see it when it came out in the theatre. I missed the whole thing, and ended up renting it in 2002. It just blew me away.
Posted by: red at September 29, 2005 8:24 AMFor me, it was Nicole singing the late, great Freddy Mercury's song "Who wants to live forever". Breaks my heart.
Posted by: Julia at September 29, 2005 10:05 AM