Auteur

COM356 AE4 Auteur (Sample) Baz Luhrmann’s latest film “Australia” breaks the mold of his previous “Red Curtain Trilogy”. In this trilogy are the theatrical romances, “Strictly Ballroom”, “Romeo +Juliet”, and “Moulin Rouge!”. While “Australia” can easily be labeled a romance, it identifies with other genres as well. Due to this fact the film has often been regarded as unfocused. Gina Carbone atSeacoastonline wrote, “it doesn’t know what it is because it can’t seem to focus. For a film so centered on one place and time, “Australia” is all over the map” (Carbone). Being familiar withLuhrmann’s background and previous work has allowed me to form a very different opinion than this reviewer. I have found a film, often received as sporadic and distracted, to be a poignant story full of hope.Baz Luhrmann is known for his colorful, romantic and visually stimulating films. He is also criticized for lacking depth in his plots and characters; there is a reason for this. Luhrmann’s involvementin storytelling began with theatre and as he transitioned to film he brought the theatrical with him. Generally an audience experiences live theatre more actively than they do a film. Luhrmann callsfor participation in film. He said the audience should “not be put into a sort of sleep state and made to believe through a set of constructs that they are watching a real-life story through a keyhole”(imdb). He does this by placing focus on creating a heightened world and characters. In “Australia” Luhrmann uses an animated map of the country to show the travel route of the main character, LadyAshley. This deliberately pulls the audience out of the film’s rhythm for a minute so they realize they are being told a story. A similar technique

is used in “Moulin Rouge!” When the film begins anoverture is played and a red curtain rises. This curtain symbolizes the beginning and end of a fictional story. Satine in “Moulin Rouge!” whispers to Christian before she dies, “tell our story”....