In Cannes, the First Test of ‘Moulin Rouge’s’ Can-Can-Do Attitude

While can-can dancers greeted “Moulin Rouge” stars Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor and director Baz Luhrmann as they walked up the red carpet for the premiere here, French critics were decidedly more mixed in their reaction to the Cannes Film Festival’s opening-night film, 20th Century Fox’s $55-million musical extravaganza.

Le Figaro declared that the film was a “fabulous ode to spectacle, to all forms of spectacle, from cabaret to opera, to musical comedy, to dance, to theater, and to film,” while Liberation sniffed that “Moulin Rouge” was an “overly long kitsch dream that won’t impress anybody except the lunatics in the asylum.”

At the Palais des Festivals, members of the opening-night audience, adorned in black tie and low-cut gowns, however, appeared rapturous in their acceptance of “Moulin Rouge.” Not only did they cheer when the stars entered the auditorium, they stood and applauded for five minutes when the film was over. It’s unclear, however, whether the primarily French-speaking audience understood all the cultural references of the songs, because they noticeably did not laugh at some of the jokes.

The musical, essentially a retelling of the Dumas classic “Camille,” features some of the great pop songs of the 20th century. Kidman sings a rendition of “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend,” while English actor Jim Broadbent belts out a version of the Madonna hit “Like a Virgin.”

“Moulin Rouge” tells the story of a penniless writer, Christian (McGregor), who falls in love with the most sensational courtesan of her day, Satine (Kidman), who yearns to be a real actress and who is pledged to “service” the evil but rich Duke (Richard Roxburgh).

While the critics might have been divided in their reaction, the French fans appear to sympathize with Kidman in her ongoing PR battle with Tom Cruise, whom she is in the midst of divorcing.

On the red carpet, the actress, dressed in a long, black gown with her strawberry-blond hair cascading over her shoulders, was greeted with ecstatic cheers as she stopped and twirled. When she walked through the giant after-party--accompanied by Luhrmann--the crowd rushed her, frantic to touch her, shake her hand or take snapshots.

Even at the press conference earlier in the day, journalists booed when one reporter seemed on the verge of asking her a question about her personal life. The subject did come up later, however, when one journalist asked Kidman her favorite love song, and she trilled, “That changes [depending] on who I’m in love with.” She giggled when she realized what she had just said.

Provocative and unusual, “Moulin Rouge” represents a big gamble for 20th Century Fox, which is debuting the film next Friday in L.A. and New York, and expanding it nationwide the following weekend, before a summer full of such ear-splitting popcorn fare as “Pearl Harbor” and “Jurassic Park 3.” A platoon of Fox executives flew to the Riviera to support the film, including parent company News Corp.’s chairman, Rupert Murdoch, and his son and heir apparent, Lachlan Murdoch.

Rupert Murdoch is not only a fellow countryman to Australian director Luhrmann, but a personal friend. The studio-sponsored after-party was an ode not simply to the red velvet aesthetic of the Belle Epoque, but to lavish Hollywood opulence. It featured a replica of the windmill of the Moulin Rouge, several stories high; can-can dancers who high-kicked and did Mary Lou Retton-style aerials; and mini-bottles of Moet-Chandon champagne that guests drank with straws.

Whatever the French critical response might augur for the film’s financial success, one happy party-goer, a Frenchman dressed in a velvet tuxedo and waistcoat, summed up the sentiment of many at the party when he gushed, “I loved it and all my friends loved it.”