The scene which I will be deconstructing for this task is the Roxanne/Tango scene from Baz Luhrmann’s 2001 film Moulin Rouge. It took me quite a bit of time to land on a scene which I wanted to explore, and I ultimately decided on this one as a result of Robin wanting us to consider the scene not only in retrospect with the rest of the film but with the filmmakers canon of work. This led me to looking at the filmography of Luhrmann as he is one of the few filmmakers where I have seen all of their films multiple times, with Moulin Rouge standing out as my favourite and the tango scene once again being my favourite of the film.
***I would just like to point out that I will not be including the portion of the scene that includes Satine and the Duke that are intertwined, as they’re shots take place on a different location. I am instead solely focusing on the action taking place in the Moulin Rouge***
This scene in every regards embodies a classic Luhrmann piece, fulfilling all of the characteristics you come to expect of the director’s films. From Catherine Martin’s grandiose costumes and sets, Jill Bilcock’s rapid fire editing, a strong emphasis on music (being a musical number of course) this scene exemplifies the boisterous nature of Luhrmann’s style where no room for subtlety is left and in fact every emotion is put under a microscope and set alight.
Within the film, the scene doesn’t necessarily serve any purpose in terms of developing narrative. However it is crucial in the way it works as a tonal piece, heightening the drama towards the lead up to the final act, as the tension of the scene escalates at a rapid pace as if the film is holding its breath before finally exhaling at the end of the scene. The choreography in tandem with the musical performance of Roxanne work together to explore the dichotomy between Christian’s passion and jealousy and the Duke’s lust for control.
Now that I’m done waffling about what I think the scene is emotionally trying to achieve, I want to try and unpack the way that translates to how the action is covered and speculate on the logistics of how this would have been carried out on set. Firstly, the most obvious thing to point out is that the scene features a large scale choreographed dance number that would obviously dictate the movement and progression of the scene. The way the space is used is also imperative as it is where the majority of the film takes place, also providing the name of the film, as the characters oscillate around each other amongst the dancehall of the Moulin Rouge.
The most striking aspect of this scene is the overwhelming amount of edits that are included in the short space of time, as the cuts happen on average every 2-3 seconds. It is also noteworthy that shots from the same angle are rarely returned to, resulting in a scene which contains an enormity of camera set ups (Roughly 70 within the 3 minutes) which would equate to a lot of time spent on filming this scene. It can also be said that it is completely necessary for this take place on a set with controlled lighting as setting up the camera and lighting over 70 times (if that is indeed what they did, which I doubt) would be extremely time consuming and there would be no chance that continuity would be able to be insured if any form of natural light was being used. This style of editing is very characteristic of Editor Jill Bilcock, which has been described as being like “a Russian serial killer on acid”, and whose influence on the final product of the film remains as integral as Luhrmann’s. It can then be deducted that Bilcock’s editing style would be one of the biggest influences to the way in which the scene is covered, as the scene seems to be shot from every possible angle or perspective imaginable in order to facilitate Bilcock.
The scene features an array of different types of shots that feature shallow, mid and deep focal lengths as well as an assortment of close ups, mid and wide shots. The most common shot used is a medium shot and usually features either a dancer or supporting character sitting on the side of the hall watching the two main dancers as if they are all surrounding watching a performance. Wide shots are also sporadically used throughout, towards the end of the scene wide aerial shots are used of the dancing troupe as they perform the tango and Christians walks through. The close ups used only seem to feature Christian, the Tango dancer and the Prostitute, separating their shots from those of the subsidiary characters. Overall, each dissected shot does not leave an overall impression and does not seem to feature any breathtakingly communicative set ups, especially seeing as though the viewer is not given the chance to make any deep analysis of a particular shot with the way it is ripped of the screen within seconds. However, the way the shots are all thrown in together and blaze through in a flurry all contribute to the heightening awareness of Christian’s erratic mental state as his feelings of jealousy rapidly germinates as the shots speed up.
Just like Baz Luhrmann’s style of directing, the genius of the scene does not lay within the minute details of the framing or lighting of an individual shot, but when reflected on as a whole piece that was somehow successfully coordinated to present an enthralling scene of chaos, that suggests that in order to achieve this the team on set would have to remove themselves from the said chaos that they are capturing and work as a together as efficiently as a well oiled machine to possibly capture everything they would have set out to.