MOULIN ROUGE

MOULIN ROUGE/CABARET:



Moulin Rouge (French for Red Windmill) is a cabaret built in 1889 by Josep Oller, who also owned the Paris Olympia. Close to Montmartre in the Paris red-light district of Pigalle on Boulevard de Clichy in the 18th arrondissement, it is marked by the facsimile of a red windmill on its roof. The Moulin Rouge is best known as the spiritual birthplace of the modern form of the can-can dance. Originally introduced as a seductive dance by the courtesans who operated from the site, the can-can dance review evolved into a form of entertainment of its own and led to the introduction of cabarets across Europe. Today the Moulin Rouge is a tourist destination, offering musical dance entertainment for adult visitors from around the world. Much of the romance of turn-of-the-century France is still present in the club's decor. Notable performers at the Moulin Rouge have included Ella Fitzgerald, Liza Minelli, Elton John, La Goulue, Josephine Baker, Frank Sinatra, Yvette Guilbert, Jane Avril, Mistinguett, Le Pétomane, Édith Piaf and others. The Moulin Rouge is also the subject of paintings by post-impressionist painter Toulouse-Lautrec. "Moulin Rouge" is the title of a book by Pierre La Mure, which was adapted as a 1952 film called Moulin Rouge, starring Jose Ferrer and Zsa-Zsa Gabor. Several other films have had the same title, including 2001's Moulin Rouge!, starring Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman. Both the 1952 and 2001 films were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Can-Can at the Mouling Rouge:
The main feature of an evening at the Moulin Rouge is the performance. The Moulin Rouge is famous internationally as the 'spiritual home' of the traditional French can-can, which is still performed there today. The can-can had existed for many years as a respectable, working-class party dance, but it was in the early days of the Moulin Rouge that courtesans first adapted the dance to entertain the male clientele. It was usually performed individually, with the courtesan moving in an increasingly energetic and provocative way in an attempt to seduce a potential client. It was very common for them to lift their skirts and reveal their legs, underwear and occasionally the genitals. As time progressed the can-cans seen at the Moulin Rouge became more and more vulgar and overtly erotic, causing much public outrage. Later however, with the rising popularity of music hall entertainment in Europe, courtesans were no longer required at the Moulin Rouge and it became a legitimate nightclub. The modern can-can was born as dancers – many of them failed ballet dancers with exceptional skill – were introduced to entertain the guests. The can-can that we recognise today comes directly from this period and, as the vulgarity of the dance lessened, it became renowned for its athletic and acrobatic tricks. The Moulin Rouge lost much of its former reputation as a 'high-class brothel' and it would soon become fashionable for French society to visit and see the spectacular cabarets, which have included a can-can ever since. The dance is recognisable for the long skirts with heavily frilled undergarments that the dancers wear, high kicks, hops in a circle whilst holding the other leg in the air, splits, cartwheels and other acrobatic tricks, normally accompanied by squeals and shrieks. As the dance became more respectable it became less and less crude, but the choreography is always intended to be a little risqué at times, somewhat provocative and 'a little naughty'. Today the can-can performed at the Moulin Rouge has iconic status in dance throughout the world.

Andrey Bely wrote in his 1906 letter to Alexander Blok about the 'Tavern of Hell' at Moulin Rouge, where lackeys were dressed as devils:
Sometimes I would venture from my sepulchre to the jazz of night Paris, where having gathered the colours, I would think them over in front of the fire. I could be seen walking through a funeral corridor of my house and descending down a black spiral of steep stairs; rushing underground to Montmartre, all impatience to see the fiery rubies of the Moulin Rouge cross. I wandered thereabouts, then bought a ticket to watch frenzied delirium of feathers, vulgar painted lips, and eyelashes of black and blue.
Naked feet, and thighs, and arms, and breasts were being flung on me from bloody-red foam of translucent clothes. The tuxedoed goatees and crooked noses in white vests and toppers would line the hall, with their hands posed on canes. Then I found myself in a pub, where the liqueurs were served on a coffin (not a table) by the nickering devil: "Drink it, you wretched!" Having drunk, I returned under the black sky split by the flaming vanes, which the radiant needles of my eyelashes cross-hatched. In front of my nose a stream of bowler hats and black veils was still pulsing, foamy with bluish green and warm orange of feathers worn by the night beauties: to me they were all one, as I had to narrow my eyes for insupportable radiance of electric lamps, whose hectic fires would be dancing beneath my nervous eyelids for many a night to come.
The 'People's Almanac' credited the origin of striptease as we know it to an act in 1890s Paris in which a woman slowly removed her clothes in a vain search for a flea crawling on her body. At this time Parisian shows such as the Moulin Rouge and Folies Bergère pioneered semi-nude dancing and tableaux vivants. One landmark was the appearance at the Moulin Rouge in 1907 of an actress called Germaine Aymos who entered dressed only in three very small shells.


MOULIN ROUGE (film):
Moulin Rouge! is a 2001 Australian film by Baz Luhrmann, based largely on the Giuseppe Verdi opera La Traviata. It tells the story of a young British poet/writer, Christian (Ewan McGregor), who falls in love with the star of the Moulin Rouge, cabaret actress and courtesan Satine (Nicole Kidman). It uses the musical setting of the Montmartre Quarter of Paris, France. The film was nominated for eight Oscars, including Best Picture, and won two: for art direction and costume design. It was shot at Fox Studios in Sydney, Australia.
PLOT:
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 never loved him, and that she really loves the Duke. Christian, crushed, walks away from the show, while Satine forces herself to spend the night with the Duke. 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.



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