Watching Mira Nair's disappointing version of "Vanity Fair" I couldn't help but notice how much she drew from "Moulin Rouge!" towards the movie's end.
First she makes Reese Witherspoon perform in full Hindu garb a la Nicole Kidman in the "Hindi Sad Diamonds" number in the 2001 film.
Reese isn't as good a performer as Kidman, but she pulls it off like she always does: relying on pure charisma.
A few minutes later Gabriel Byrne confesses her love for Reese by uttering the words "the only thing of value in this life is to love and be loved".
If you're not humming "Nature Boy" ("Moulin Rouge!"'s trademark song) already there's something wrong with you...
And just a few scenes later James Purefoy discovers Reese in the middle of a not so decent situation and obviously his normal reaction is to tear her elaborate, expensive looking necklace from her neck and throw it away.
He then proceeds to dump her, not without first doing his best Rhett Butler impersonation.
Ah if the whole movie has been just half as brilliant as Luhrmann's we'd have been in business.
2 comments:
As much as I love MR (and have seen it multiple times) I'm not sure I even caught the connection when I saw VF at the theater. But then again, I was more interested in the fact that my BFF next to me was nodding off - I was probably halfway there myself.
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