Moulin Rouge Opening Sequence Analysis

 

Moulin Rouge is a 2001 romantic jukebox musical film directed, produced and co-written by Baz Luhrman. The film is set in 1899 in the Montmorte Quarter of Paris, France and tells the story of a young British writer/poet called Christian who falls in love with the terminally ill star of the Moulin Rouge, cabaret actress and courtesan Satine.

The opening sequence of the film reveals to the audience the time period, genre, setting and also creates dramatic irony as it reveals the fact that the film ends tragically. The audience are made aware of this of this even before the male protagonist (Christian) tells them ‘the woman I love is dead’ (referring to Satine).

 What foreshadows this is a number of things; the use of low key lighting and sombre music signifies that something tragic has or will occur, but also the portrayal of the characters and their interaction with the audience. The first character to appear is a priest who looks directly at the camera (this makes the viewers feel as though they are a part of the movie which helps them to feel more attached and find it easier to empathise with the characters which in the long run will make the tragedy more heartrending). He warns the viewers to ‘stay away from this terrible place’ which makes the audience question what could have happened to affect an entire area to make people want to avoid it.

The camera pans through the streets of Montmorte where you meet several more characters who don’t say anything but simply stare into the camera wearing sorrowful expressions which emphasises how something significant has happened to this place. Finally the camera pans up to a hostel room where the main protagonist resides. He is curled up on the floor unshaven and surrounded by paper and bottles. This creates the image of a lonely and broken man and this is further emphasised by a close-up of his face as it gives the audience a clear view of the pain and despair in his eyes. It also makes it more personal as normally you wouldn’t get that close to another human being and so this helps the viewers feel more attached to his character but also makes him seem more vulnerable as he is letting the audience into his heart by allowing them to see him so exposed.

The setting and time period of the film is portrayed by the use of early 20^th century mise en scene e.g. the costume of the character and the audience is made perfectly aware that the film is set in Paris, France by the presence of the Eiffel tower in an extreme long shot as this is a very well-known French landmark.