Background

Information
• Directed by Baz Luhrmann
• Released in 2001
• Part of the ‘Red Curtain Trilogy’
• An estimated budget of $52.5 million
• In the opening weekend the film brought in
takings of :
- $167 thousand - US (51 Screens)
- £2.4 million - UK (284 Screens)
 The Red Curtain
• Trilogy
This is the official marketing title for Baz Luhrmann’s first three films
- Strictly Ballroom (1992)
- William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet (1996)
- Moulin Rouge (2001)
• Each movie begins with a vaudeville theatre (velvet red curtains) and the
actual film actually beginning on the vaudeville screen
• Each film has luxurious design work (costume, music, set)
• All are based on a myth or widely known story
• Each film has a thematic design through which the story is told
• All use techniques seen within the Western, Musical and Romantic-Comedy
movie genres. The style is meant to be heightened, and non-realistic, so
that at all times the audience are aware that they are being entertained in a
theatrical way.
• Catherine Martin, Craig Pearce and Marius DeVries have all worked on
each film.
 Opening Credits
• Begins dark opens like a vaudeville theatre which signifies grandeur and high
quality.
• Twentieth Century Fox logo in theatre and associated music incorporated by
orchestra in shot.
• As the curtains open and close style changes to sepia toned introduction –
signifies classical, old.
• Titles are black on sepia screen connoting a low budget show
• Similarities to silent movies through quality and tone of screen.
• Spotlight on information with dark edges in corners of screen, signifies the dark
side of the world of entertainment which is not presented to the public
• Both the exclamation mark in the ‘Moulin Rouge!’ and the boarder within the
theatre screen contain the windmill which is symbolic to the actual place, the
Moulin Rouge in Paris.
• On the slide containing the title of the film a silhouette of a female can-can
dancer performing for a male audience. This connotes the setting of the movie
being France
- Through this basic stereotypes are kept. A woman’s body is on show for
male satisfaction.
• The top-hats the gentlemen wear signify the time period the film is set being in
the early twentieth century
• Further anchorage is provided to the time period and setting by detailing ‘Paris
1900’
 Music
• Opening diegetic music played by orchestra soft string signifying tragedy
(sadness)
• Music alters from ‘The Hills are Alive’ which signifies love and the musical
genre through the intertextual reference to the famous musical ‘The Sound
of Music’.
• This then develops into a short, loud and dramatic section of music which
signifies the thrilling and dangerous parts of the movie
• Finally a section of Can-Can music heavily signifying nightlife France, fun
and excitement
• There is a dramatic end to the can-can music followed by silence
 Opening shot
• The titles being to fade out when the music stops and the camera begins to zoom in
on the theatre screen.
• The silence helps to builds tension as we begin to focus on the film itself
• The transition between the shots is slow which, along with the black and white editing,
would suggest an older target audience
• The boarder is retained to show that we are still watching from within the theatre.
• The focus is on an eccentrically dressed Bohemian actor standing within the windmill
of the Moulin Rouge. The lighting falls from directly above him, showing the audience
that he is both a performer and is of importance within the movie yet as he is
positioned in a small corner of the shot it suggests that he is not a central character
to the plot
• It is an extreme long shot with shallow depth of focus giving an idea of the place the
movie is focused on and slightly out of focus there is a hotel with a large L'Amour sign
providing intertextual references to the other films in the ‘Red Curtain Trilogy’ and
connotations of love. The backdrop of Paris further out of focus
• There is a spotlight on the hotel and the L’Amour sign signifying it’s importance within
the movie
• The shot is in black and white which holds connotations of classical and tragedy
• The man begins mournfully singing on his own but strings quietly build up behind his
voice
•
 Opening shot
•
continued...
The man sings of the boy who is the central protagonist.
• With the blade of the windmill a shot of the central protagonist fades into the
screen.
• It’s a close up of his face, which introduces him and allows the audience to
see him being happy.
• He fades out again with the movement of another windmill blade.
• As Bohemian sings, shot fades out to an extreme long shot of Paris with the
Eiffel Tower in focus.
• This shot is in black and white and the music and singing continue but are
now non-diegetic
• Singer is telling story of central protagonist.
• “There was a boy. A very strange enchanted boy. They say he travelled very
far over land and sea” - lyrics connote that the central protagonist is
famous/a legend
• Shot zooms in over Paris in one continuous shot. Focuses on entrance to
small section of the city called ‘Montmartre’ is following the path of the
central protagonist.
 Montmartre
• Focus on Priest – connotes religion
• “village of sin” – signifying death, nightlife, violence, sex.
• Horse and cart connote the 1900’s
• Naked figures surrounding entrance signify the exotic red-light district it is
set in.
• Over exaggerated sound of wind signifying that the place is empty and
desolate.
• Grey, grave faces of people – prostitutes sickly dying man, quiet drinkers in
Absinthe bar, connoting depression, lifeless. Contrast to retrospective look
at same people later in the film
• Gives the audience an idea of life in this time during the depression.
• Focuses again on hotel and L’Amour sign.
• Slight red colour to sign strong anchorage to romance within movie with
connotations of death/faded/lost love – a tragedy.
• Camera enters room past drab curtains – signifying working class or poverty
 Introduction to
•
Central Protagonist
Sepia tones of room. Classical, old possibly forgotten.
• Unkempt, untidy room several, empty bottles of alcohol connotes an
alcoholic depressed occupant.
• Many sheets of paper all over room, signifies he’s a writer, obsessive.
• Zooms in on central protagonist signifying his central role in the movie
• As focuses on him and as he begins to move, colour fades in – he is coming
to life.
• Body position connotes that he is sad, mournful, lonely.
• His face is half shadowed/half in light which could be a reflection on his
character
• Surrounding candles are the only light signify mourning.
 Target Audience
• The target audience for this movie will be mature youth to older.
• This can be seen through the combination of modern and older music which
will appeal to a wider audience
• The slow edited transitions between shots suggest an older audience.
• Generally a female audience is being targeted through the romantic genre
and Ewan McGregor being used for sex appeal.
• However Nicole Kidman and the theme of exotic nightlife would be used to
attract a male audience following the male gaze theory