Poster © 20th Century Fox. Shown at reduced size for review and commentary.
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GenreDrama, Musical & Romance
RatedPG-13
Runtime2 hr 7 mins
ReleasedJune 1, 2001
StreamingSee Where to Watch
DirectorBaz Luhrmann
StarringNicole Kidman, Ewan McGregor, John Leguizamo
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Moulin Rouge! (2001)
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| WWikipedia | LLetterboxd |
| TTMDB | +Add to Top 8 |
| Moulin Rouge!'s Details | |
| Genre | Drama, Musical & Romance |
| Rated | PG-13 |
| Released | 05/09/2001 (Cannes); 05/25/2001 (Australia); 06/01/2001 (United States) |
| Streaming | See Where to Watch on this page. |
| Running Time | 2 hr 7 mins |
| Budget | $50M (reported) |
| Box Office | Updated daily from Box Office Mojo. See the numbers below. |
| Country | Australia, United States |
| Language | English |
| Moulin Rouge!'s Interests | |
| General | Can-can, top hats, windmills, a giant elephant, Montmartre rooftops, Bohemian ideals. |
| Music | Craig Armstrong, plus pop hits from Elton John to Nirvana reworked as show tunes. |
| Movies | Romeo + Juliet (1996). Same Luhrmann, same sugar rush. |
| Television | Glee. The mashup gene clearly came from here. |
| Heroes | Toulouse-Lautrec (John Leguizamo). Painter, Bohemian, full-time hype man. |
| Moulin Rouge!'s Crew | |
| Director | Baz Luhrmann |
| Writers | Baz Luhrmann, Craig Pearce |
| Producers | Martin Brown, Baz Luhrmann, Fred Baron |
| Cinematography | Donald M. McAlpine |
| Music | Craig Armstrong |
| Edited By | Jill Bilcock |
| Production | Bazmark Productions |
| Distributed By | 20th Century Fox |
Watching the first stretch of Moulin Rouge is like being shoved inside a disco ball while somebody yells pop songs at you. Baz Luhrmann cuts so fast in those opening scenes that you’ll want to check the settings on your TV. It’s a lot: the cancan numbers, the whip pans, Jim Broadbent’s frantic ringmaster, all of it at full volume. The Duke is a cartoon who mostly sulks and twirls. Then Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor get alone on a rooftop, start trading love songs in the Elephant Love Medley, and suddenly you care. Kidman’s Satine is glamorous and fragile at once, and McGregor sings like a man who means every word. The movie tells you how it ends in the very first minutes, and it still lands, because the tragedy is sincere. It made $184.9 million worldwide on a reported $50M. A 7.3 because the first act is a migraine and the love story is the real thing. $8,383 says you hear Your Song on the radio this year and picture a giant elephant with a balcony.
What works: Kidman and McGregor sell the romance completely, and the Elephant Love Medley is one of the great movie-musical scenes.
What doesn’t: The frantic opening and the cartoonish Duke make the first act exhausting before the love story finally kicks in.
Who it’s for: Musical fans, karaoke people and anyone who wants a big, sincere love story that isn’t afraid to be loud.
Spoilers
Satine is seriously ill with tuberculosis and hides it, pushing Christian away to protect him from the jealous Duke. They reunite onstage on opening night, and she dies in his arms backstage, leaving him to write their story.
Paris, 1899. Christian (Ewan McGregor), a broke young writer, moves to Montmartre to write about truth, beauty, freedom and love. Almost immediately, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (John Leguizamo) and his troupe pull him into the Moulin Rouge, the wildest nightclub in town, run by Harold Zidler (Jim Broadbent). Its star, Satine (Nicole Kidman), mistakes Christian for a rich Duke (Richard Roxburgh) whose money could turn the club into a real theater. The real Duke wants the club, and Satine, all to himself. Baz Luhrmann directs it like a sugar rush. One hundred twenty-eight minutes, every pop song ever.
Anyone who can sing a love song mashup on top of a giant elephant. Bohemians welcome.
The Unconscious Argentineanphoto: https://flickr.com/photos/96799800@N07/, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
| Nicole Kidman | Satine |
| Ewan McGregor | Christian |
| Jim Broadbent | Harold Zidler |
| Richard Roxburgh | The Duke of Monroth |
| John Leguizamo | Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec |
| Jacek Koman | The Unconscious Argentinean |
| Caroline O'Connor | Nini Legs-In-the-Air |
| Kerry Walker | Marie |
| Lara Mulcahy | Môme Fromage |
| Garry McDonald | The Doctor |
| Matthew Whittet | Satie |
| David Wenham | Audrey |
| Kiruna Stamell | La Petite Princesse |
| DeObia Oparei | Le Chocolat |
| Kylie Minogue | The Green Fairy |
| Peter Whitford | The Stage Manager |
| Linal Haft | Warner |
| Norman Kaye | Satine's Doctor |
| Arthur Dignam | Christian's Father |
| Carole Skinner | The Landlady |
| Jonathan Hardy | The Man in the Moon |
| Keith Robinson | Le Pétomane |
| Tara Morice | The Prostitute |
| Sue-Ellen Shook | Baby Doll |
- (cur | prev) 14:30, 17 October 2026 DataBot +480 Numbers refreshed: Worldwide box office $184.9M; Domestic box office $57.4M; Opening weekend $168K; Profit / loss (est.) +$17.5M; Rotten Tomatoes 75%; CinemaScore B+; box office chart updated; Rotten Tomatoes critics 75% (259 reviews); Metacritic 66 / 100; CinemaScore B+; IMDb users 7.5 / 10 (317,598 votes); movie.guru score 6.9.
- (cur | prev) 12:00, 17 October 2026 DataBot +2,000 Profile created from Wikipedia and Box Office Mojo: cast, crew, release dates, budget, official trailer.