An average movie

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since it had been nominated for the Academy Award for the Best Picture and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, even though it does have the same title as Baz Luhrmann’s supercharged movie, the two movies have actually very little in common after all. In fact, it was already the first issue with this movie. Indeed, even though Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and the Moulin Rouge were linked together, this movie was about Toulouse-Lautrec, not about the famous French cabaret, so it seemed to be a rather cheap way to give this biopic a catchy title. Well, I always had a weak spot for biopics dealing with artists and it was pretty neat to get acquainted with Toulouse-Lautrec, an artist I wasn’t really familiar with. Unfortunately, the whole thing was still too straightforward though. Seriously, during the 1st hour, I have to admit that I was actually rather bored. There was also the tricky thing of having José Ferrer playing a cripple but Lautrec’s affliction was quite rare, maybe even unique, so there was probably no other way than having a regular looking guy playing him. At the time, there was obviously no CGI involved so they had to use all kinds of visual tricks but the end-result was never really convincing. And, yet, I have to admit that it slowly grabbed me though. Indeed, even though Ferrer didn’t look anything like Toulouse-Lautrec, he was actually pretty good and I just loved the way this aristocrat who was considered by his peers and even himself as a failure became so fascinated by the street life and gutters of Paris. There was such an intriguing mix of acceptance and despair in this man, it was actually quite fascinating to behold after all. I also loved the fact that they kept displaying his Art and, even though he was never a favorite of mine, his work was actually really good. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, I thought it was still a decent watch and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

6/10