Grace Storvold's List: Moulin Rouge Historical Accuracy

What did the critics of the film have to say?

Overall the film gained highly positive reviews and critics feed back complimented the director for taking such a unique approach to recreating the film. However some people criticized and bashed Baz Luhurmann for making a "Contrived and soulless piece" and felt like the material incorporated into the film was simply a compilation of many other film ideas. These negative blows to movies reputation were not however enough to stop other critics from voicing their positive vibes about the movie. Moulin Rouge was most praised for been so visually appealing and just beautiful to watch. One film blogger Jason Best calling it "A visual feast."

How is the viewer's perception of this portion of history shaped by the film? Explain.

I think absolutely that Moulin Rouges is such a bright, lively and creative portrayal of the time period, that after watching this movie a viewers perception of the portion of history that it was portraying would be molded or changed through the directors choice to make the movie so visually effective. Paris at the time is illustrated to be this beautiful place bustling with creative geniuses looking for their muse, and I myself watching the movie was inspired by their innovativeness. When the director made the decision that he was going to paint the Bohemian Revolution in this certain light I think it was definitely intentional so that he might get the viewers to take some interest in the topic as-well as formulate opinions on what they thought about it.

Did the time period in which the film was made have any influence on the film?

The film was made in 2000 and obviously we have made huge technological advances since that time but I don't think that the lack of technological knowledge at the time the film was created reflected on the outcome or production of the movie compared to a movie of todays standards. Nowadays we have incredibly accurate HD cameras that can capture vividly clear film, so naturally the footage taken with a camera from 2000 is going to be the slightest bit different. Disregarding the variation in picture quality between Moulin Rouge and modern day films, there is no outstanding influences from around the time of 2000 that can be seen in Moulin Rouge. I think that perhaps the opposite can be said and that Moulin Rouge being such a large scale production and so highly publicized had an influence or impact on fashion and music around 2001, but the time period had no real effect on the movie.

If there were events changed in the film, why were they changed? If there were not events changed, why not?

Since this really wasn't a hugely historically accurate film and the time period really plays just a backdrop to singing dancing and romance and therefore leaves little time for any important historically accurate events to be involved in the film let alone any that were changed or manipulated. You could say that the portrayal of the Bohemian Revolution was altered because it was being expressed with the opinion of one man and he could have been biased as to what he thought it was really like.

How does your film represent the era that it depicts? How can you connect the events in the film to events we've been discussing in class for that time period?

I think that the film consistently portrays Paris during the Bohemian revolution as a city bustling with artistry and innovative thinking. The films represents it as an exciting time where the turn of the century is bringing new beginnings and new romances. The director demonstrates the energy that must have been felt back during the Bohemian Revolution with huge dance number with women in colorful dress and dancing around to fast paced music. There has been no real discussion of France during this time period but after studying the French revolution and the oppression and strife that the people endured, I can assume that the Bohemian Revolution began or was born when this oppression and strife felt before and sometime after the French Revolution seized and people were free to express themselves and did do through art poetry and music. So the French Revolution can be linked to the spark of the Bohemian Revolution because once people could afford to eat, they began to have more time to be visionaries instead of fighters.

What would you change about the film?

From a frequent movie watchers point of view I thought that the movie was fantastically composed and that there was really not gap in the plot or vital elements to the movie that I thought needed changing, however from a historian point of view there were multiple things about the picture that could have been modified. For one I thought that the character of Toulouse-Lautrec could have been more of a leading character because he was the only non-fictional character involved in the movie and I think if the director or writer would have included more depth and detail about who he as a person really was, than the movie would have been that much more entertaining. Another element of the plot that I thought could have been different was the music that they choose. Although the musical numbers were completely amusing and enjoyable, the music was not historically accurate and if they had incorporated factual music from the time period I think it would have furthered the artistic feel of the movie.

How does your film compare with the actual events that took place? What was different in the film? What was the same?

In Moulin Rouge much of the time in the movie is eaten up with big musical numbers and the development of the love story between the characters Satine and Christian which is essential the focus of this piece, which leaves little time to include historically significant information that was going on at the time. The film includes scenes of the Moulin Rouge at night where it is filled with men wearing black suits and women wearing frilly colorful dresses dancing and drinking which is exactly accurate to what would actually have happen on a typical night at the Moulin Rouge in 1900. One of the characters Toulouse-Lautrec in the film is actually a real life figure that was involved in the Moulin Rouge back in the day and was an artist and heavily influential in the Bohemian revolution. In the movie, the city of Paris is shown to be quiet romantic and animated, which the director has obviously chosen to do to depict a mood and feel to the film but in real life this isn't what it would have looked like. Some elements of the film and the Bohemian revolution in real life that were that same would be again the costumes and behavior, going to the Moulin Rouge on any night became a tradition to many people and they show this in the movie.

When was the film made?

The version of the movie that I had watched was actually a remake of a movie from 1952 of the same title "Moulin Rouge". However this interpretation of the movie was not produced until 2000 and released October 3rd 2001.

What were the actual events that took place?

Some historically accurate events that are worth mentioning from the film would be the birth of the Can Can dance in the Moulin Rouge as well as a variety of other dance numbers mentioned in the film that originated from the Moulin Rouge. Another huge one would obviously be the Bohemian revolution which was not exactly one event but a serious of events and developments that are taking place during the movie. The main events that make up the plot of the movie really don't include any historical detail, so most of the happenings are highly fictional, such as the fabricated character of the Duke investing in the Moulin Rouge and turning it for basically a brothel and dance hall to a theatre; all these events were fictional.