"Moulin Rouge!" has always been one of the films I loathed when I was younger. And here I am, reevaluating it positively in the Year of Our Lord MMXXIII. The ostentation and extremization of all the clichés of melodrama, the unapologetically kitsch presentation, the epileptic '90s MTV-style editing… all factors that might sound derogatory, but instead become added values in this absurd operation undertaken by Luhrmann and company. A full commitment to bad taste in every detail, yet it never ends up becoming a parody. On the contrary, it’s a movie that in many ways dignified an iconography that we may now tend to sweep under the rug, but that will likely one day be aligned with the great classics of cinema. At times, it might even be compared to one of Disney’s finest classics, complete with hyper-choreographed musical sequences and the Bohemians working as the fairies/animal sidekicks to the protagonist.

You might think, can the presentation alone compensate for the utter stupidity of the story narrated? Yes and no. Despite the tight pace of the opening scenes, which first overwhelms and then intoxicates the audience, the film suffers from an interminable second act that feels obnoxious to say the least, especially when Kidman suddenly goes from Paris’ most known prostitute to a barefooted nun. The vocal performances of the two leads do not help either, suffering from an unwelcoming stiffness in what was supposed to work as the most emotional beats of the film. Fortunately, it all picks up in the final moments.