History Film / MoulinRouge

** [[spoiler:Given the Duke and his manservant attempted murder of Christian in the middle of a performance, you would think one or both would under murder rep.]].
** [[spoiler: The ScreenToStageAdaptation turns the story into a BittersweetEnding. Satine still dies, but Zidler makes enough money from the play to buy the Moulin Rouge back from the Duke.]].
* DramaticallyMissingThePoint: Christian walks out before the finale of El Tango de Roxanne, depressed at the thought of Satine sleeping with the Duke. [[spoiler: He doesn't realize that the Argentinian is not playing Christian, but the Duke, and that Satine's death is inevitable.]]

* ShoutOut: One of the Bohemian's costumes is a long brown coat, a ridiculously long, multi-coloured striped scarf and a floppy hat. [[Series/DoctorWho Sound familiar?]]

* HolyShitQuotient: [[invoked]]WordOfGod states that the idea of the movie is to rocket the HSQ ''to infinity''.

** [[spoiler: [[AvertedTrope Surprisingly averted]] with the ScreenToStageAdaptation. Satine still dies, but Zidler makes enough money from the play to buy the Moulin Rouge back from the Duke.]].

--> ''It is an innuendo that continues (one-sidedly) into the rendezvous itself.''

* InLoveWithLove: Christian travels to Paris to explore the idea of love. So naturally, he plans to fall in love with the hottest looking prostitute in town. Therefore, he totally breaks down once his idealistic view is shattered.

* VictorianNovelDisease: Satine has a classic case. She's dying from TB, but this has no effect on her beauty or her singing ability.

The film is a wild mishmash of genres, kinetic editing and atmosphere, often compared to a MusicVideo for its use of JitterCam. It is also composed almost exclusively of {{Cover Version}}s of songs, though most of them have been rewritten into new styles. Music/{{Madonna}}'s "Music/LikeAVirgin" becomes a BusbyBerkeleyNumber ([[CrowningMomentOfFunny sung by a man]]), for instance, and the film contains only one song which the audience has never heard before (which, in fact, was originally intended for Luhrmann's ''[[Film/WilliamShakespearesRomeoAndJuliet William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet]]''). It is also one of the most triumphant examples of the FirstLawOfTragicomedies, taking it almost to MoodWhiplash territory; the bleak FramingDevice of Christian at his typewriter switches quickly into a vibrant, almost cartoonish comedy before the inevitable spiral towards the {{Bittersweet|Ending}} / DownerEnding. Finally, it was the first musical to gain any sort of widespread popularity for a couple decades, and has helped launch the [[FollowTheLeader recent revival of the genre]].

* DeathByIrony: PlayedForDrama. Christian spends most of the film asserting that "love is more important than oxygen." [[spoiler:Satine dies of consumption, drowning in her own blood. So, no, love is not more important than oxygen. If she wasn't ill, Satine could have lived had she chosen the Duke (though unhappily), but without oxygen she just dies, whether she loves and chooses Christian or not.]]

* NeverMyFault: Christian knew going in that Satine was a HighClassCallGirl who has to seduce other men to make ends meet. She warns him about it many times and asks if he's all right with it, which he often assures her he is. Nevertheless, she feels no qualms about SlutShaming Satine in front of everyone for her profession and for "breaking his heart."

* NotSoDifferent: Christian may be a penniless romantic and the Duke a wealthy SissyVillain, but they both fall in love with a HighClassCallGirl, but feel [[EntitledToHaveYou entitled to have her]] exclusively based on their feelings and what they think they alone can give her (Christian can give her love, the Duke can give her money). Both become very possessive and jealous over her, and [[NotGoodWithRejection react horribly]] when she rejects their advances. [[spoiler:The Duke tries to rape her, while Christian rather brutally [[SlutShaming slut-shames]] her in front of everyone they know.]]

* ViewersAreGeniuses: Satine's desire to be a "real actress" being taken seriously relies on audiences understanding the cultural and historical connotations of her era. In the turn of the century Europe, "real" acting was only viewed by polite society: opera, ballet, stage plays, [[TechnologyMarchesOn or maybe that newfangled "cinema."]] If you couldn't bring your deeply conservative and prudish great aunt to come see it, it wasn't legitimate. Meanwhile, Satine does strip teases and burlesque numbers for horny men in a ''brothel''. It's today's equivalent of a porn actress wanting to become a Hollywood actress, or a stripper wanting to become a ballet dancer.

* BrokenBird: Satine starts off as a jaded, cynical GoldDigger who just wants to get enough money to become a "real actress" (not just a HighClassCallGirl putting on strip teases), and scoffs at Christian's assertion that "love" is more important than money, since she knows what it's like not to have money. However, she's much more vulnerable than she lets on under her cool, suave, professional demeanor, and falling in love with Christian restores her idealistic, romantic side.

%%* ChorusGirls: The Diamond Dogs.

%%* DisneyAcidSequence:
%%* DiesWideOpen: [[spoiler: Satine.]]
%%* DistractedByTheLuxury
%% Anything obviously revealed in the movie's opening is not a spoiler.

%%* EverythingsSparklyWithJewelry

* HeroicBystander: The courtesans and bohemians get the chance to save the day in the finale. Toulouse swings from the rafters and knocks the gun from Warner's hand; Nini uses her high kicks to knock Warner upside the head and keep him from recovering the weapon; the Argentinian clocks him with a door; and the sitar player brains him with his instrument. It's Petite Princess, though, who is the most heroic: she climbs to the top of the stage and, just as Warner is about to fire, ''drops a sandbag onto his head'', making him miss and sending the pistol flying.

* HoneyTrap: Satine in the beginning of the film

** The Duke himself. While he doesn't get to keep Satine, he doesn't really suffer much in the end. In fact, he manages to exact DisproportionateRetribution against ''everyone'', as it is implied that he did follow through with his threat and closed down the Moulin Rouge.
* LadyInRed: Satine's red dress, featured on the film posters (see the page image) and worn during the 'One Day I'll Fly Away'/'Elephant Love Medley' scene where she kisses Christian for the first time. The red is meant to draw the veiwer's attention to make it clear how she is drawing the protagonist's attention (and everyone else's).

** {{Melodrama}}: Done spectacularly right.

%%* MundaneMadeAwesome

%%* MushroomSamba: The entire Absinthe sequence.

* AesopCollateralDamage: In a sense. Christian spends most of the film asserting that "love is more important than oxygen." [[spoiler:Satine dies of consumption for the universe to teach him otherwise.]]

%%* CallingTheOldManOut: Satine to Zidler.

* ConceptsAreCheap: Christian spends the film chasing after abstract concepts. The movie does very little to explore what these ideas mean in the first place. He believed that because he and Satine believe in Freedom, Art and Love, the universe has to bend around them and that he never has to make any tough choices. Also, it doesn't ever seem to occur to him that these concepts aren't always compatible with each other. For instance, for his play to succeed, he would have to avoid falling in love with the investor's love interest. He also doesn't respect Satine's freedom to love someone other than him, seeing her attempt to break up with him as a result of being manipulated the whole time.

%%* DisneyAcidSequence

%%* {{Melodrama}}: Done spectacularly right.

-->'''TheNostalgiaChick:''' Singing fixes everything!

*InLoveWiththeMark Satine with Christian

* Honeytrap: Satine in the beginning of the film

%% ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them

* ItMakesSenseInContext: [[{{In-universe}} The movie invokes this]] by cutting between the typewriter and the scene.

* EasilyForgiven: Despite Christian slut-shaming her in front of an entire audience, Satine doesn't see this as crossing the line when it comes to breakup etiquette.

** David Wenham as DragQueen ex-librettist Audrey who only appears to be replaced by Christian.

The film is a wild mishmash of genres, kinetic editing and atmosphere, often compared to a MusicVideo for its use of JitterCam. It is also composed almost exclusively of {{Cover Version}}s of songs, though most of them have been rewritten into new styles. Music/{{Madonna}}'s "Music/LikeAVirgin" becomes a BusbyBerkeleyNumber ([[CrowningMomentOfFunny sung by a man]]), for instance, and the film contains only one song which the audience has never heard before (which, in fact, was originally intended for Luhrmann's ''[[Film/WilliamShakespearesRomeoAndJuliet William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet]]''). It is also one of the most sustained examples of MoodWhiplash in recent history: the bleak FramingDevice of Christian at his typewriter switches quickly into a vibrant, almost cartoonish comedy before the inevitable spiral towards the {{Bittersweet|Ending}} / DownerEnding. Finally, it was the first musical to gain any sort of widespread popularity for a couple decades, and has helped launch the [[FollowTheLeader recent revival of the genre]].

-->'''Christian:''' You don't have to stand, I mean... It's sometimes... it's quite long. And I'd like you to be comfortable. It's quite modern what I do and it may feel a little strange at first, bu.. but I think if you're open, then... then you might enjoy it.

* WritersSuck: Christian comes across as a naive, hopeless romantic stumbling through a situation ''way'' over his head. Since the whole film is an extended flashback written by Christian himself, the audience can see him despising and pitying his younger self's innocence, but he is still an emotional wreck as a result.

* WritersSuck: Christian comes across as a naive, hopeless romantic stumbling through a situation ''way'' over his head.

* LovingAShadow: The Duke is convinced that Satine loves him. In early dialogue with Christian, she remarks that making "men believe what they want to believe" is a courtesan's job.