`Realism is out of the window and the magical, fantastical, the super-romantic is in!' On June the 1st, 2001 Moulin Rouge hit the box office. Directed by Baz Luhrmann, the film is part of his theatrical trilogy. Looking at it from a personal angle I think it is the best of the three. Luhrmann's groundbreaking style and technique yet again brought theatre to the cinema in its heightened appearance.

The various techniques and devices used by Luhrmann to draw the audience into the Bohemian dreamscape of the Moulin Rouge rely heavily on techniques most commonly used in theatre rather than film. In some cases Luhrmann takes these devices, for example his use of a red curtained proscenium arch in the first scene, and uses them to lull the audience into suspension of disbelief. Luhrmann himself describes this as `red curtain cinema'. Luhrmann's adaptation to the 20th Century FOX...