YMMV / Moulin Rouge!

• Actor Shipping: There were rumours that Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman were having an affair, which they both denied.
• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Essentially, Satine is a prostitute who manipulates her client into spending a ton of money on her and on a musical that covertly mocks him. She sleeps with his employee instead of him, and everyone covers up for them and mocks him behind his back.
  • Nini Legs-in-the-Air blowing Christian and Satine's cover to the Duke. Did she crack out of fear? Or was she motivated by jealousy, hoping to knock Satine down a peg? Did she sympathize with the Duke for being deceived? Or is she a troll who wanted to watch the drama unfold?
  • Is Christian finally experiencing One True Love and his heartbroken behavior at the end expected, or is it just Puppy Love and he loves the romantic idea of them together, and thus his humiliation and degradation of Satine when his idealistic worldview is shattered is unforgivable, and proof that it was? Notice how he was dazzled by her good looks even when she was trashing his worldview. He can be seen as being both too perfect for being overly idealistic when falling in love with a prostitute and too flawed for slut shaming her in front of an entire audience and letting these events ruin his life.
  • How accurate is Christian's transcribing of the events of the movie? Is he being as faithful to the events as they actually occurred, or are they romanticized to the point of parody heavily skewing himself and Satine as innocent victims of circumstance and the Duke as an almost cartoonishly dopey and then evil villain?
• Award Snub:
  • Come Oscars, Ewan McGregor wasn't nominated for Best Actor, Baz Luhrmann was snubbed for Best Director, and "Come What May" wasn't nominated for Best Original Song. ^note "Come What May" was technically ineligible because it was written for Luhrmann's previous film, Romeo + Juliet (1996), but the omission was still highly publicized.
    Whoopi Goldberg (referring to the ten Academy Award nominations Moulin Rouge! got, excluding Best Director): I guess Moulin Rouge! just directed itself...
  • Jim Broadbent's scene-stealing work was also passed by come Oscar time, but in this case, he was nominated and won for his work in Iris instead. Noticeably, at Bafta, he was nominated in lead for Iris and won supporting for this film instead. Many have said his performance here likely helped him win for his work in the other film.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment:
  • During the Elephant Love Medley, Zidler jumps off the balcony of the Moulin Rouge and literally flies into the building. So basically, Zidler is a superhero and this is never mentioned again. He could have flown into outer space at the end and turned the planet back in time to before Satine died so that they could find a cure!
• Broken Base: Whether or not the stage musical lives up to the film is heavily debated. Whether or not the music lives up to the original is also argued. And then there's whether or not the cast is a good fit: Karen Olivo is generally praised as Satine. While a seasoned Broadway vet whose acting as Christian is praised, Aaron Tveit's vocal performance is much more divisive; he comes off as a relatively weak singer in the role to some compared to Karen, and especially compared to Ewan McGregor. His "El Tango de Roxanne" is universally praised, however, and he ended up winning a Tony Award for his performance.
• Cliché Storm: A positive example, for some, seeing it as a love letter to romance. Two people from different social classes fall in love, and the wealthy characters strongly disapprove, so a deadly love triangle ensues. One of them thinks that they hate each other and so they must both confess their love during the climax, and it works.
• Covered Up: Many don't know that "Lady Marmalade" was originally done by Labelle in The '70s. Also, in spite of its popularity and the fact that it was used in a good deal of the film's marketing, that was not the version actually used in the film. The song itself, blended with Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and original verse spoken by Jim Broadbent, is the first really big number in the film.
• Designated Hero: Harold Zidler, in particular, comes off as a rather vile character if you break down everything he does during the movie. First off, he is a pimp and is in charge of selling Satine and the other Diamond Dogs to interested buyers; he bankrupts the brothel he's running due to his sick obsession with electricity (an investment that he could never hope to see a return on due to the cost of power and maintenance of such a set-up during the turn of the century); he is the mastermind behind the plan to lure The Duke in and have him bankroll the brothel's transformation into a theater; he holds Satine's dream of being a 'real actress' over her head to convince her to do what he says; he knows Satine's health is deteriorating but doesn't remove her from the show, tell The Duke, or even her until she's ready to abandon the show to be with Christian; and he is the one who agrees to The Duke's terms to have Satine contractually bound to The Duke and hands the deed over to him. And yet, he gets a pass just because he punches The Duke at the end. And probably because he's quite an OTT and entertaining character to watch.
• Draco in Leather Pants:
  • Nini Legs-in-the-Air gets a lot of this from people who frame her as someone terrified of what might happen if Christian and Satine were found out. There's really no evidence for this in the film, as noted above, and she appears to be motivated by jealousy. What's more is that being afraid doesn't really justify snitching on them — considering she pretty much ensures that everything definitely goes wrong a lot sooner than usual. Not to mention that makes her indirectly responsible for the Duke nearly raping Satine.
  • The Duke gets a lot of sympathy from fans and critics for being strung along by Satine and the rest of the Moulin Rouge, even though he was physically and emotionally abusive towards Satine, attempted to rape Satine, and tried to shoot Satine and Christian at the end of the show.
• Genre Turning Point: The acclaim of the film has resurrected the hope of musical films since its release.
• Harsher in Hindsight: A major plot point is Satine dying from an illness. When the national pandemic interrupted the Broadway production, Danny Burstein (Harold Zidler's actor) wound up losing his wife Rebecca Luker to ALS.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Pan would later also feature Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" being sung anachronistically by people with no business doing so (fin de siècle Parisians here, Blackbeard and his pirate crew in Pan). Especially since while its use was more accepted in this film, in Pan it generated more mixed reactions.
  • A character (usually) played by Ewan McGregor in a secret love with a woman named Satine.
• Ho Yay:
  • Defied or lampshaded, when the Narcoleptic Argentinian admires Christian's attitude. "I like this boy..." (there's a Beat as the Bohemians give a weird look) "Nothing funny. I just like talent." He also touched Christian's crotch as he said it. And he later kisses him. Not to mention later at the celebration party, the Diamond Dog he is most interested in is Travesty ... the cross-dresser.
  • Very much on display during Zidler and the Duke's duet of "Like a Virgin". Sure, the whole number is about Satine falsely being in love with the Duke, but it also includes Zidler dressing up like her and being quite intimate with his fellow singer. At first, the Duke seems weirded out by Zidler's flirtatious performance, but as it goes on, he fully embraces it, chasing him, and lovingly embracing him.
• Jerkass Woobie: The Duke is a bit of a simpleton Manchild and Satine (in conspiracy with the entire circus) is trying to seduce him for his money and connections; he is too besotted and naïve to realize this. While his later behavior is outright villainous, it's a case of him Jumping Off the Slippery Slope after he starts to see how cruelly he has been used and humiliated. He is the bad guy, but that doesn't make the other characters the "good" guys - although his attempted rape of Satine is truly evil.
• Moral Event Horizon: The audience knows from the start that The Duke isn't a nice person; it's when he tries to rape Satine after she refuses him that he loses any sympathetic edge he might have had.
• Narm:
  • Some people might find Christian's hysterical sobbing/laughing when Satine dies a bit...misplaced. Word of God is that this is deliberate; Christian is so utterly devastated by Satine's loss that he's past caring whether or not he sounds ridiculous. Whether or not the audience agrees is up for debate.
  • Satine saying how she wants to be "a real actress" when she is already singing, dancing, and performing for hundreds of adoring people.
  • The movie's constant preaching about love is this too, especially combined with most of the performances in the movie.
  • The Duke saying "my way" repeatedly.
  • The Duke screaming "I JUST...DON'T...LIKE OTHER PEOPLE TOUCHING MY THINGS!!!!!!"
  • Also the scene where Christian's reciting his "poem" ^note Really the first verse of "Your Song" in Satine's room, Satine's erm...reaction fits.
    • Similarly, Satine's attempt to distract the Duke is not great. Even a horny bugger like the Duke looks weirded out by it.
    • Both of these moments' narminess are also multiplied when you realize that Satine is supposed to be an incredibly talented actress, yet her attempts at seduction and distraction fall into Bad "Bad Acting".
  • During her verse in the "Heroes" section of "Elephant Love Medley", Nicole Kidman gives a big, not-too-subtle shrug while saying "And I... I'll drink all the time" that feels more like a high school theatre performance than an Academy Award-nominated one.
  • The stage musical replaced Satine's wistful rendition "One Day I'll Fly Away" (originally by Randy Crawford) as an "I Want" Song — expressing Satine's desire to leave behind the seedy Parisian underbelly and move on to brighter things — with a melodramatic solo performance of "Firework" (by Katy Perry). Audiences have been reported to break into giggle fits when the song begins.
• Narm Charm: This is not a subtle film, and it has many completely ridiculous moments, but that's part of its charm.
  • Richard Roxburgh's performance is so damn over the top, but it helps make The Duke a more memorable and enjoyable character.
  • Sure, Satine's attempt to distract the Duke is childish in just how awful it is, but it's also funny, and The Duke's perplexed reaction indicates it's meant to be seen that way.
  • The sheer number of times Christian goes on and on about love may be annoying to some, but to others, it makes him endearing.
  • Much like Roxburgh, Jim Broadbent's work here is truly hamtastic, but that just adds to his performance and the character of Zidler. And at least his campiness can be excused by the fact that his character is indeed a showman who needs to play to the crowd, and he has quieter moments when he's not performing.
  • While Christian's and Satine's love for each other may be born very quickly, the great chemistry between Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman makes it work.
  • As noted under the straight Narm section, Christian's crying over Satine's death may sound a bit ridiculous, but it's still a genuinely heartbreaking moment, and the explanation that he's too grief-stricken to care how he sounds can make it even sadder.
  • On one hand, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec taking a somewhat slapstick-like fall and holding on for dear life as he quite loudly quotes "Nature Boy" to save the day may sound messy in practice. But the words "The greatest thing you'll ever learn, is just to love, and be loved, in return" ring true, and John Leguizamo's shouting delivery is still quite heartfelt, resulting in a great moment. As for the volume, it can easily be excused by Christian being well on his way to the exit. He had to make sure he was heard somehow.
  • As noted above in Narm, the use of Katy Perry's "Firework" as Satine's "I Want" Song in the stage musical is a bit jarring, but depending on the production and the actress playing Satine, it becomes a stirring display of Satine's resilience and hope for a better life.
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • El Tango De Roxanne starts to veer into this territory when The Duke realizes he's been played for a fool and prepares to rape Satine. The scene is intercut with two different sequences: The first being the Argentinian leading the tango, which ends with the metaphorical "Roxanne" getting murdered by the jealous lover, symbolizing the danger Satine is in from stringing The Duke along; the second is Christian screaming in anguish over the idea of losing Satine to The Duke. It's all so overwhelming that when the number is finally over, you need to take a minute to catch your breath.
  • While it's a comedic number, "Like a Virgin" can also apply. First, there's Zidler's drawn-out, creepy opening speech. Then there's the Duke's high-pitched, creepy voice when he starts to join in singing. And don't forget when the Duke states right into the camera with a nightmarish face when he sings the lyrics "Feels so good inside". And, of course, near the end when he makes an animalistic face as he playfully preys on Zidler. If you're not laughing at all this, you might be a bit uncomfortable.
• One-Scene Wonder:
  • One iconic element of this film was Kylie Minogue as The Green Fairy. Her scene lasted less than a minute.
  • El Tango De Roxanne is performed by two, until then, background characters.
• Retroactive Recognition: We find out Slughorn's previous profession.
  • When he wasn't a chief constable, corrupt politician, or playwright.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: Some audience members felt this way about the choppy nature of the music. Typically, this reaction comes during the first music number when they hear Nirvana alongside Madonna.
  • Parts of the stage musical fell under this for people, with changing some of the more iconic songs, like "Elephant Love Medley", and adding other songs to it that aren't as well-meshed as the original film.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Nini Legs-in-the-Air has practically nothing to do in the film other than spilling the secret of Christian and Satine to The Duke, something that's never truly explained. If her role was fleshed out and she was able to interact more with the other characters, exploring her motives (such as the often interpreted jealousy angle), then the moment would've flowed much better and strengthened the plot.
• Signature Scene:
  • El Tango De Roxanne
  • Elephant Love Medley
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: As Designated Hero explains in vivid detail, Harold Zidler may be a fun character, but if you don't let his over-the-top showmanship distract you from what he's actually doing throughout the film, he comes across as truly reprehensible and not much better than The Duke. And unlike The Duke, whose actions, while unjustifiable, can at least be explained by him cracking from his mistreatment, while Zidler has no excuse, with him being fully responsible for any misfortune to befall him and The Moulin Rouge. The fact that he's never even called out for his crimes doesn't help.

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