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Netty Lim
McCue
Honors 205A
November 12, 2014
The Show Must Go On
When you enter a night club, or perhaps its less formal cousin, the frat party, you can
literally feel the mass of people through all the senses. You smell the sticky sweat, you hear the
magnetic music, you feel the buzzing bodies, and you can even taste in the air god knows what
the people are sweating out. Now, rewind about a century to the 1900s and this is the exact
atmosphere in the Parisian cabaret, the Moulin Rouge, as set by the 2001 motion picture Moulin
Rouge! starring Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman. The films namesake is also the main
setting for the musical, where a classic love story between a poor writer and the star courtesan of
the Moulin Rouge unfolds, all the while incorporating popular contemporary songs like Lady
Marmalade and Like a Virgin. However, though the main plot line may be fictional, the setting
of the Moulin Rouge is a very real part of French past, and the history behind it is conveyed
through the films characters, props, and scenery.
The 1900s Moulin Rouge, as it appears in the movie, is the hub for fun and frivolity
located in the district of Montmartre, initially shown by the sign above the entrance in the
beginning scene. Historically, this is the same Montmartre in Paris that was known for its
underground life, where the different social classes mixed to indulge in night-time pleasures as
well as it being a pivotal location for the budding arts culture of Paris at that time (L'Histoire). In
1891, in an attempt to bring some religious purity into the area, the Basilica du Sacre-Coeur was
built on the top of the main hill, creating an interesting clash of sin and purity (L'Histoire).

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The building and a preacher condemning the area for its morally flexible reputation is also
shown in the films introduction as the camera pans across Paris and Montmarte. As the camera
finally reaches the actual Moulin Rouge, it is epitomized by the red windmill and a giant
decorated elephant in the front.

Although the exact location of these landmarks are changed with artistic discretion in the movie,
they are real parts of the actual Moulin Rouge. Looking at photographs of the actual music hall,
the red windmill located at the top of the entrance, and the elephant in the yard are easily
observable (L'Histoire). In the movie, the giant elephant serves as the master bedroom of the
heroine. Although whether the real structure was used similarly is unclear, the grandiose
structure only serves to emphasize the lavishness of the atmosphere created by the caberet hall in
reality and in film.
In addition to the similar landscaping, the film also features direct historical figures as
characters. The main example is of Harold Zidler, who in the film plays the owner of the Moulin
Rouge. He is a boisterous character who is at times sympathetic with the plights of his
performers while being a serious business man at heart. For example, he deeply cares about the
main character Satines wellbeing but advises her to carry on with the show when confronted
with the choice to elope with her lover. Zilder, in real life, was the co-founder and owner of the
Moulin Rouge, alongside his partner Joseph Oller (L'Histoire). Similar to the movie character, he

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was a showman who not only was close to the performers but also watched over them with a
benevolent eye and ruled with an iron fist (L'Histoire). Another supporting character also taken
from real history is Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, simply called Toulouse in the film. His
character plays a play actor who wholeheartedly believes in the ideals of the beauty, truth,
freedom, and love. In reality, Lautrec was indeed drawn to the district of Montmatre for its
bohemian lifestyle and worked as a talented poster artist frequently commissioned to advertise
Montmatre performers such as La

Goule and Jane Avril

of the Moulin Rouge as shown below ( L'Histoire, Henri, Henri ).

Lautrec often drew inspiration from the so-called low lives of Montmatre such as prostitutes
and frequently featured them in his paintings (Michael). His work is known for depicting his
subjects in a frank and sometimes audacious manner that provides an insight into what life was
like at the Moulin Rouge (Michael). One of his most famous paintings is one of a typical night at
the caberet hall titled, Au Moulin Rouge, 1892 shown above in the far left (Jones). He is
characterized by his short height in the film which was because Lautrec suffered from a disease
in his infancy that stunted the growth of his legs, making him abnormally short and deformed

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(Michael). It is suggested that his disfiguration could be a probable cause for his strong
alcoholism; although not directly addressed in the film, the character Toulouse is frequently
shown with a glass or bottle of absinthe in his hand (Michael). Other historical figures such as Le
Ptomane and Chocolat was also featured as a supporting character in the film. The movie
character of Le Ptomane played the small part of the piano player for the main play, however in
real life, Le Ptomane (roughly translated to fartomaniac) was not only a musician of
instruments but also a professional flatulist or more crudely put, a professional farter
(L'Histoire). The Frenchman was known for his ability to pass gas at will to imitate sounds
(L'Histoire). Chocolat is a relatively small character in the movie as a very tall, black Moulin
Rouge performer. Historically he was also part of a comical clown act within the Moulin Rouge
called Footit and Chocolat (Swortzell). One of Lautrecs drawings, Footit et Chocolat, n.d.
shows the two performers on stage (Footit). Despite the movies deviations, these characters
derived from real historical figures of the Moulin Rouge helped illustrate the music halls history.
Moulin Rouge! won an academy award for Best Costume Design, and upon watching the
film, it is not hard to imagine why. The flamboyant, colorful, and over-the-top can-can dresses
were an important costume piece in the film and this is because historically, the Moulin Rouge
became renowned for its French can-can dancers. The enthusiastic dance calls for flexible
motions such as the launching of the legs upwards and splits, leading to the characteristic frills,
lacy underskirts, and black stockings or garters of the dress and costume as shown in the
photograph
(L'Histoire). Likewise,
these showy dresses
are also featured in

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some of Lautrecs paintings of can-can dancers like in Mademoiselle Eglantines Troupe, 1896
(Madamoiselle).
Aside from the setting, characters, and costumes, an omnipresent prop used throughout
the film was the alcoholic drink of absinthe, also known as the green fairy, that of which
appears in the beginning sequence of the film. Absinthe is a highly alcoholic beverage made
from the plant wormwood that is characterized by its green color (Cohen). It was popular
throughout France during the 1900s, with overall consumption totaling about 36 million liters a
year, and was the choice drink for the hard-drinking, transcendence-seeking painters and writers
like Lautrec due to its infamous hallucinogenic properties (Cohen). In 1915, it was banned in
France, citing potential health and mental hazards (Cohen).
It is necessary to say that the film Moulin Rouge! is not completely historically accurate
as it was made as a form of entertainment and to capture a certain audience like any other film.
However, it is notable that the movie, despite is exaggerated and fictional tendencies,
incorporates key historical aspects through the setting, characters, and props as a basis for their
plot line. Knowing the historical aspects sewed within the fabric of the film, it is interesting to
see how these actual historical figures are translated into movie characters, interacting and
influencing the fictional characters and the plot line. It is not difficult to see how a story like the
one in Moulin Rouge! came from its namesake within its progressive, revolutionary, and diverse
atmosphere during 1900s Paris. Currently, the Moulin Rouge functions as a great tourist
attraction in Paris and perhaps will inspire new stories to visitors of its grandiose life as a caberet
hall.

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Works Cited
Cohen, Jennie. Frances Green Fairy Flies Again. History.com. A&E Television Networks, 04
May 2011. Web. 12 Nov. 2014
Footit Et Chocolat. AIC. Art Institute of Chicago, n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2014.
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Jane Avril (1893). MoMA.org. Museum of Modern Art, n.d.
Web. 12 Nov. 2014.
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec: Moulin Rouge: La Goulue Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000. Web. 12 Nov. 2014
Jones, Jonathan. Toulouse-Lautrec and the Real Story of the Moulin Rouge. Theguardian.com.
The Guardian, 17 Aug. 2011. Web. 12 Nov. 2014.
LHistoire Dy Moulin Rouge Et De Ses Revues Moulin Rouge (Site Officiel). Moulin Rouge
Site Officiel. Le Bal Du Moulin Rouge, 2013. Web. 12 Nov. 2014
Mademoiselle Eglantines Troupe. AIC. Art Institute of Chicago, n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2014.
Michael, Cora. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901). Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000-. Web. 12 Nov. 2014.
Swortzell, Lowell. Books in Review. Educational Theatre Journal.Vol 26 (1977): 435-37.
JSTOR. Web. 12 Nov. 2014.