CHRIS STEEL takes a look at Moulin Rouge and finds a romance with a camp edge to it.

ANY film which includes a moustachioed Jim Broadbent cavorting around on a table while belting out a rendition of Madonna's Like a Virgin is bound to raise a few eyebrows.

Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge is a tour-de-force of camp excess. It is the story of a love affair between Nicole Kidman's Satine and Ewan McGregor's Christian, set against the background of the infamous Moulin Rouge club in the last days of the 19th century.

But anybody who walks into the cinema expecting a gentle journey through a Parisian love affair is in for a rude awakening.

From the syphilitic Duke de Monroth, who pursues Satine, to a cabaret dwarf in drag delivering a version of Miami Sound Machine's Rhythm of the Night, Baz Luhrmann's follow-up to Romeo and Juliet is a cinematic spectacular.

References to 80s and 90s pop classics never stop. Christian's unknowing seduction of Satine with the words "Love is like oxygen, Love is a many splendoured thing, Love lifts us up where we belong, All you need is love" leaves her writhing around in a rug on the floor in one of the film's funniest moments.

Another strength is the performance from Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor, who both appear to revel in the excuse to camp it up.

Jimmy Somerville, David Bowie, Madonna, Elton John, T-Rex, and Queen lyrics are all there in the dialogue and, fortunately, the tongue-in-cheek style allows the actors to carry it off in what really is a gay old romp.

There is a dark side to the story, with the conflict between Christian's Bohemian ideals of truth, love and beauty and the reality of life for Satine and Moulin Rouge impresario Harold Zidler.

The film sometimes seems to have an identity crisis, leaping from the absurd world of the patrons at the Moulin Rouge to the musings of the love-sick Christian in his garret.

It some times feels Lurhmann is trying to cram too much into the film, but ultimately its style and energy make it unmissable.

September 7, 2001 10:11