Sarah Cundy 12F                                                         November 2003

Moulin Rouge

Moulin Rouge uses songs mainly to describe characters particular feelings towards something. The songs and scenes are linked by a series of events that take places chronologically within the time space of the film. This makes it a narrative musical.

The opening of Moulin Rouge beings with a medium shot of a man on a rooftop balcony with a windmill and city scene behind him. The scene is in black and white, allowing only white or bright things to stand out; this includes the man on the rooftop who is dressed in an entertainers costume and makeup. The light does not particularly focus in one place; it is just from the top right hand corner of the screen allowing the audience to see the basic scenery. This is done because the director of the film may not want the audience to focus on one part of the scenery, as it would draw attention from the rest. The city background looks dull and dirty, and the black and white colouring may suggest a time of poverty and/or unhappiness in the town, which is Paris during 1990.

As the scene opens you can hear a violin playing and the man begins his song. This particular scene allows the audience to listen to the man singing, which is like a prologue to the storyline. A violin is a classical example of an instrument used to create a sad, mourning atmosphere for a scene in a film, and the voice singing uses a low pitch, slow singing voice to add to this effect. This continues for approximately 3minutes, setting the scene, mood and atmosphere for the musical.

The scene then fades into a long medium shot of a small windmill on a rooftop surrounded by buildings and a city in the background. There is different music by now and this is slightly more upbeat. However even though the music has sped up, it still gives off sad, depressed feelings to the audience. Whilst focusing on the buildings the young man from the previous shot says “Moulin Rouge” over the music. The lighting changes again back to black and white, showing the dinginess and bleakness of the city. There is then a jump cut to scene 12. In this scene there are girls dancing the ‘can-can’ across a large ballroom. The girls’ dresses are brightly coloured and luxurious, which is a contrast to how the outside world is. The bright colours and brightly lit dance floor gives the impression of a fun, happy world where nothing bad can happen. However the music does not change, and still sounds sullen and sad. This can indicate that all inside the dance place is not as good as what it seems, and gives the audience some more ideas for why the priest from a previous shot called it “A village of sin”.

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It is clear from the beginning of the film that the story is being told backwards, and that these flashes of colour are past glory. As the story unfolds it uses very well known musical songs, as though they are trying to create a musical within a musical. The fact that the songs being used are famous from other musicals encourages the audience to feel more involved in the film, maybe encouraging an audience ‘sing along’. One of the first main songs is ‘Diamonds Are A Girls Best Friend’. Marilyn Monroe first sang this in the musical film Gentlemen ...

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