From John Leguizamo dressed as a clown and singing “Nature Boy” as exposition, to a whirlwind introduction to the Moulin Rouge through a flying camera, “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and Fatboy Slim’s “Because We Can,” the first few minutes of Baz Luhrmann’s “Moulin Rouge!” dare you to love it. It crams pretty much every visual/aural trick (and tic) the director can think of and asks you to accept it on its own terms.

If you make it through the sensory assault, the movie “calms down” and you are rewarded with the sight of a lovely Nicole Kidman hanging from a trapeze above a crowd of men in top hats while she sings “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend.” Fortunately I’m not making any of this up.

The plot, breathlessly told: In 1899, Paris’ most famous cabaret, where the rich mingle with the children of the demimonde — the Moulin Rouge! — is in financial trouble. Impresario Harold Zidler (Jim Broadbent) needs his latest show to be a hit and is not only looking for a writer but also a backer. Meanwhile, dragged to the club by his new friend Toulouse-Lautrec (Leguizamo), a young writer named Christian (Ewan McGregor) falls madly in love with Satine (Kidman), the Moulin Rouge’s star attraction! Through a series of complications too complicated to contemplate, the fate of the young lovers — and the Moulin Rouge itself! — winds up in the hands of the rich, evil Duke (Richard Roxburgh).

“Moulin Rouge!” is so gorgeous in its excess, so deliriously romantic, that it can only truly be appreciated by 13-year-old girls during the first weekend of spring. The rest of us can enjoy it as well, I guess, but then we might get stuck on the cheesy/brilliant use of pop song collages as musical numbers, or the fact that the villain barely stops short of twirling his mustache, or that Kidman is basically a prostitute, or that... forget it, with “Moulin Rouge!” either you get it or you don’t.

But don’t take my word for it, check out the clip below. And yes, Satine lives on top of an elephant.