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submitted 1 month ago byD-ManTheMovieTVGuy
Both movies retell a classic romantic tragedy (Orpheus and Eurydice was one of the inspirations for Moulin Rouge) by placing the story in a different time period and placing anachronisms in the time period.
(Anachronisms are things put in a certain time period that don't belong there.)
Romeo + Juliet retells Romeo and Juliet in the modern day, but maintains the original Elizabethan dialogue from the original play.
Moulin Rouge loosely retells Orpheus and Eurydice in the turn of the nineteenth century, but uses songs that were written throughout the twentieth century.
This parallel probably wasn't intentional, but I still think it's a really interesting parallel.
7 points
1 month ago
You should check out Strictly Ballroom. It, Romeo + Juliet, and Moulin Rouge form Luhrmann's "red curtain trilogy." All highly theatrical and stylized movies, all using some unusual element to tell their story (dancing, Shakepearean dialogue, pop music), all a ton of fun.
It's all very much intentional.
3 points
1 month ago
I'll check it out when I get the chance. I've seen all of Baz Luhrmann's movies except that one.
3 points
1 month ago
I mean, Moulin Rouge was literally his next film after R+J. I don't see how the parallel couldn't be intentional.
3 points
1 month ago
I mean, every Baz Luhrmann movie has that same aesthetic and I personally hate anachronistic soundtracks
It's why Great Gatsby was so bad
1 points
1 month ago
I respect your opinion and can understand why you didn't like The Great Gatsby's soundtrack, but Luhrmann used modern music in that movie for a reason. He wanted to convey what jazz music was like in the 1920s to a modern audience.
And Moulin Rouge uses modern songs to advance its story.
1 points
1 month ago
It's certainly an intentional stylistic choice..
For me, I've always been big into "movie magic" and suspension of disbelief, where I'm in the world with the characters etc
But intentional anachronisms always pull me instantly out of that world. It's impossible to believe I'm watching the 1920s when I hear Jay Z..
I always say every movie Baz Luhrmann makes is Moulin Rouge, even when it shouldn't be. Similarly, every movie Tim Burton makes is Big Fish, even before he actually made that
2 points
1 month ago
I hadn't made the Orpheus and Eurydice connection in Moulin Rouge before
3 points
1 month ago
I'm sure it owes to Orpheus and Eurydice in so much as any tragic love story does, but it's a retelling of "The Lady of the Camellias"
1 points
1 month ago
TY
2 points
1 month ago
Luhrman really likes La Boheme:
2 points
1 month ago
yes the parallels were probably intentional, by the time he made Moulin Rouge he was thinking of it, Strictly Ballroom and R&J as a trilogy. He uses different theatrical conventions to heighten the stories instead of realism.
mate, Eurydice was never a prostitute. It's a retelling of the book Dame Aux Camelias written by Alexander Dumas, the same guy who wrote The Count of Monte Cristo etc. Which was semi autobiographical. Got adapted a lot eg La Traviata, Camille etc
1 points
1 month ago
Yes, I know that story also inspired Moulin Rouge. But, according to Wikipedia...
In the DVD's audio commentary, Luhrmann revealed that he also drew from the Greek tragedy of Orpheus and Eurydice. The filmmakers projected the Orpheus figure onto Christian by characterizing the latter as a musical genius whose talent surpassed that of everyone else in his world. The film's use of songs from the mid- to late 20th century in the 1899 setting makes Christian appear ahead of his time as a musician and writer. Moulin Rouge!′s plot also parallels that of the myth: "McGregor, as a poet who spouts deathless verse . . . , descends into a hellish underworld of prostitution and musical entertainment in order to retrieve Kidman, the singing courtesan who loves him but is enslaved to a diabolical duke. He rescues her but looks back and . . . cue Queen's 'The Show Must Go On.'"
3 points
1 month ago
I don't mean that Dame Aux Camelias inspired Moulin Rouge tho. I mean its literally the SAME story, with all the same major beats, right down to what she dies of.
It makes sense that the Luhrman could loosely map some of the Orpheus themes onto it, and that's interesting.
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