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In 1899, a young British writer, Christian (Ewan McGregor), moves to the Montmartre district of Paris with few possessions beyond his typewriter to try to establish himself in the Bohemian culture. By luck, he encounters a musical troupe led by Toulouse-Lautrec (John Leguizamo) that is attempting to present a new play for Harold Zidler (Jim Broadbent), the owner of the cabaret, the Moulin Rouge. Christian's writing helps to finalize the show, entitled "Spectacular! Spectacular!", and the troupe take Christian to the cabaret to present the work itself to its star courtesan, Satine (Nicole Kidman), in private to win her favour. However, the same night, Zidler has arranged for Satine to spend the night with the wealthy Duke (Richard Roxburgh) who is looking to buy the cabaret. Through miscommunication, Satine mistakes Christian for the Duke, and the two depart to her private chambers. She begins to seduce him despite his insistence he is only there to present his script, but the two slowly realize they have fallen in love with each other. The Duke returns, and discovers Christian and Satine in a compromising position. Satine quickly states that Christian is only there to present a play. With the help of the troupe, Satine, and Zidler, Christian quickly improvises a new plot to "Spectacular! Spectacular!" as a thinly-covered veil of their current situation, with an evil maharajah attempting to woo the love of an Indian courtesan who is actually in love with a poor sitar player. The Duke, unable to see through the show's meaning, agrees to finance the show, but only if he is allowed to continue to see Satine. Unfortunately for the Duke, Satine and Christian continuously make up excuses as to why he can't see her.
Over the next several days, the entire Moulin Rouge troupe prepares for the show as the club is turned into a theater. Christian and Satine attempt to evade the Duke to keep their love alive by pretending to be practicing their lines as well as the "secret song" that the sitar player and courtesan share, but the Duke insists that he can watch. On a day that the Duke has invited Satine to his place for the evening, Satine insists that she must practice her lines with Christian, and they depart. Later Nini-Legs-In-The-Air (Caroline O'Connor), a jealous courtesan, points out to the Duke that the play is obviously a metaphor for Christian, Satine, and the Duke. The Duke takes drastic steps to make sure that Christian and Satine are separated, demanding that Zidler let Satine spend the night with him. On that night, Satine refuses the Duke's advances and flees to Christian; the two plan to run away together. The Duke reports this to Zidler, and states that unless Satine is his, he will have Christian killed. Zidler tells this to Satine and he finally tells her that she is dying from tuberculosis. Satine sadly makes her way back to Christian's loft and claims that she wants the Duke's wealth more than Christian's love. Heartbroken, Christian follows Satine back to the Moulin Rouge and calls for her, only to be beaten by two men and refused entry.
On the opening night of "Spectacular! Spectacular!", Toulouse-Lautrec tries to remind Christian of the Bohemian way — truth, beauty, freedom, and love — and that he truly loves Satine as she does him, but Christian is too depressed to listen. As the show starts, Christian approaches Satine, trying to buy her love using money he made by selling his typewriter just as the Duke had done, but Satine tries to send him away, fearing that the Duke's bodyguard will kill him. Suddenly, the two find themselves in the spotlight on stage, momentarily confusing the performers and audience. Zidler quickly improvises, stating that Christian is the sitar player in disguise and trying to make the show go on, but Christian walks off stage. As he leaves the theater, Toulouse-Lautrec shouts from the rafters "The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return." Satine realizes what she has done and sings the "secret song," showing Christian that she truly loves him. Christian rejoins her on stage and joins her in singing the song, angering the Duke. The Duke's bodyguard attempts to kill Christian, but the courtesans and Bohemians stop him; the Duke then tries to finish the job himself, only to be stopped by Zidler, who disarms the Duke so true love can prevail. The lovers are able to finish their song without incident to a standing ovation; the Duke storms away from the Moulin Rouge. As the performers get ready for taking a bow, Satine finally succumbs to her illness, and dies in Christian's arms. A year later, with the Moulin Rouge having closed down, Christian, still mournful over his loss, decides to write the story of the love shared between himself and Satine, which was her dying wish.
Background
Inspiration
When asked about his inspiration for Moulin Rouge, Luhrmann remarked:
"Catherine Martin (production designer and Luhrmann's wife) and I went to India to work on "Midsummer Night's Dream." We went out one night and there was a big poster up for a Bollywood movie. I said, "Let's go see that." We did - 2,000 audience members, high comedy, high tragedy, brother kills brother, [they] break out in some musical numbers, all jumbled up together in 4 hours of Hindi. We thought that was amazing. So our question was, "Could we create a cinematic form like that? Could a musical work?" A musical must be able to work in western culture again, and could it be comic-tragic? So then began this commitment of moving toward "Moulin Rouge." I decided I'd do "Romeo + Juliet" and then a musical film."[3]
There was also a play within the film, "Spectacular Spectacular," which itself may have been based on an ancient Sanskrit play, The Little Clay Cart.[citation needed] In addition to the Indian influence, Baz Luhrmann has revealed in the DVD's voice-over commentary that he drew from the Greek tragedy of Orpheus and Eurydice. Orpheus was a musical genius far surpassing anyone in his world; the filmmakers chose to replicate this by using songs from the mid-to-late 20th century, many decades after the film's 1899 setting. In this way, Christian would appear to the other characters to be an innovative musician and writer.
Production on the film began in November 1999 and was completed in May 2000, with a budget of just over $50 million.[1] Filming generally went smoothly, with the only major problem occurring when Kidman injured her ribs while filming one of the more complicated dance sequences. The production also overran in its shooting schedule and had to be out of the Fox Studios in Sydney to make way for Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (in which McGregor also starred). This necessitated some pick-up shots being filmed in Madrid.[citation needed]
In the liner notes to the film's Special Edition DVD, Luhrmann writes that "[the] whole stylistic premise has been to decode what the Moulin Rouge was to the audiences of 1899 and express that same thrill and excitement in a way to which contemporary movie-goers can relate." With that in mind, the film takes well-known popular music, mostly drawn from the MTV Generation, and anachronizes it into a tale set in a turn-of-the-century Pariscabaret. The movie also features editing that several critics compared to a music video, involving swirling camera motion, loud music, dancing, and frenetic cutting. Some of the songs sampled include "Chamma Chamma" from the Hindi movie China Gate,Queen's "The Show Must Go On" (arranged in operatic format), David Bowie's rendition of Nat King Cole's "Nature Boy," "Lady Marmalade" by LaBelle (the Christina Aguilera/Pink/Mýa/Lil’ Kim cover commissioned for the film), Madonna's "Like a Virgin" and "Material Girl," Elton John's "Your Song," the titular number of "The Sound of Music," "Roxanne" by The Police (in a tango format, composed by Mariano Mores), and one of the few films to use "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana. The film uses so much popular music that it took Luhrmann almost two years to secure all the rights to the songs.[citation needed]
Originally set for release on December 25, 2000 as a high profile Oscar contender, 20th Century Fox eventually moved the release to the following spring so director Baz Luhrmann would have more time during post production. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on May 9, 2001—making it the festival's opening title. A limited release on May 18, 2001 in the United States followed, and the film was released to theaters across the United States on June 1, 2001.
The film was an instant success in limited release, grossing $185,095 in only two theaters on opening weekend. Representatives from the studio said that many audiences even burst into applause during the screenings. The numbers continued to increase over the Memorial Day weekend, with the film making $254,098. When it expanded into over 2500 theaters, it made $14.2 million in its first weekend of wide release. The film eventually grossed over $57 million in the United States. It had a brief re-release in October 2001 for Oscar consideration, with Luhrmann stating that his intent was to get Kidman and McGregor nominated.
The movie was even more successful internationally. It broke box office records in Australia where it was given a rare theatrical re-release at the end of 2001, and found a stable audience in almost every country. It eventually made over $120 million internationally, resulting in over $177 million worldwide.
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Academy Awards record
1. Best Costume Design
2. Best Art Direction-Set Decoration
Golden Globe Awards record
1. Best Picture - Musical or Comedy
2. Best Actress - Musical or Comedy (Nicole Kidman)
3. Best Original Score
BAFTA Awards record
1. Best Supporting Actor (Jim Broadbent)
2. Best Film Music (Craig Armstrong)
3. Best Sound
The film was selected by the National Board of Review as the best film of 2001 over many other contenders. After that, it picked up six Golden Globe nominations including Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy, Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy (for Nicole Kidman), Best Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy (for Ewan McGregor), Best Original Score (for Craig Armstrong), Best Director (for Baz Luhrmann) and Best Song ("Come What May"). It won three including the coveted Best Picture trophy. A few weeks later, it received 13 nominations at the BAFTA Awards, making it the most nominated film of the year for that ceremony. It took home three, including Best Supporting Actor for Jim Broadbent.
When Oscar nominations were announced, the film received eight nominations including Best Actress in a Leading Role (Nicole Kidman) and Best Picture. The film was not nominated for Best Director (Baz Luhrmann); commenting on this during the Oscar ceremony, host Whoopi Goldberg remarked, "I guess Moulin Rouge! just directed itself." It took home two Oscars when the winners were announced for Best Costume Design and Best Art Direction; subsequently many proprietors of the film claimed that it had been unjustly snubbed at the Academy Awards.
It should be noted that "Come What May" (the only original song in the film) was disqualified from nomination for an Oscar because it was originally written (but unused) for Luhrmann's previous film William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet and not written expressly for Moulin Rouge![4]
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For a while in 2002/2003, there was vast speculation on the possibility of a stage musical based on Moulin Rouge!, possibly in Vegas, but there have been no public talks in the years since.[5] Some sources claimed in 2006 that the director, Baz Luhrmann, had approached the leads of the film (Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor) to star in the potential stage version.[6]
Influence on popular culture
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In Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Willow Rosenberg says that Moulin Rouge! is one of her favorite movies. She also states that she stops it right before the end because she wants the film to have a happy ending.
In the Season Four premiere of Will & Grace, Jack is mad at Will for not buying him a present while in Paris, claiming he was "too busy kicking it up with Nikki Kidman at the Moulin Rouge!". Later that season, Will's friends celebrate the release of Moulin Rouge! on DVD.
In the Season 9 episode of Friends, "The One with the Memorial Service," Ross posts a statement on his college alumni website that Chandler is gay. Later, a telephone caller expresses surprise about Chandler's sexuality to Monica, and Monica responds that she should have known since Chandler kept making her watch Moulin Rouge!. Chandler demands Monica hang up the phone and then exclaims, "That was a great movie!"
Entertainment Weekly named the film #10 in its list of the best 100 movies in the past 25 years.[7]
In season five of Gilmore Girls, Lorlei Gilmore makes a reference to Moulin Rouge when decorating her garage, saying that she was thinking of doing a moulin rouge theme with a jeweled elaphant in one corner and Ewan McGregor in the other.
