Click on the links below for an analysis of the main characters in the movie...
Satine: The Sparkling Diamond
- Satine played by Nicole Kidman
- Satine is a beautiful cortesean of the nightclub, Moulin Rouge. All her life she has been taught she was only worth what someone could pay for her and she was told never to fall in love. Her dream is to someday "fly away" from the underworld showfolk of the Moulin Rouge and become a "real actress" like the great Sara Bernhardt. Her life is turned upside down when she finds herself faced with a difficult decision between being with the man she loves or hurting him to save his life.
"If I would die this very moment, I wouldn't care. Because I've never known completeness like being here wrapped in the warmth of you, feeling every breath of you."
~Satine
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Christian: The Pennyless Poet
- Christian played by Ewan McGregor
- Christian is a charming young writer who comes to Montemarte, Paris against his father's will to pursue his dream of writing about love. He meets a group of Bohemian writers who nominate him into writing their play for the Moulin Rouge, "Spectacular Spectacular." At the Moulin Rouge he meets, and falls in love with Satine, The Sparkling Diamond. He fights with all he has to win Satine's love. Nothing, not even death, stops him from being totally devoted to his love.
"Then I'll write a song and we'll put it in the show and whenever you sing it or hear it. Or whistle or hum it then you'll know. It'll mean that we love one another"
~Chrisian
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Harold Zidler
- Zidler played by Jim Broadbent
- Harold Zidler is the owner of the Moulin Rouge. He, along with his "Diamond Dogs" run the nightclub. From the can can dancers, to the giant elephant, Zidler makes the Moulin Rouge an unforgetable experience. His dream is to turn his precious nightclub into a theatre. With the financial help of an invester (the Duke) and the writing talents of the Bohemians, his dream comes true. Even though his character is slightly flawed with the inability to love, he means well and his colorful personality is a necessary element for the full effect of the movie.
"When life's an awful bore, and living's just a chore that you do, and death's not much fun. I've got the antecdote. Though I musn't gloat, at the Moulin Rouge you'll have fun!"
~Zidler
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Toulouse Latrec
- Toulouse played by John Leguizamo
- Toulouse Latrec is the vice-ridden gnome who helps Christian on his journey of love. He is the one who convinces everyone that Christian is the perfect writer for the Bohemian play and he is also the one who introduces Christian to Satine. When Christian is unsure of Satine's love to him, Toulouse tells him that love overcomes all obstacles and that the greatest things he'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return. Toulouse is the only character in the movie that is based on a real person.
"Christian, you may see me as a drunken, vice ridden gnome whose only friends are pimps and girls from the brothels but I know about art and love if only because I long for it with every fibre of my being. She loves, I know she loves you."
~Toulouse
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The Duke
- The Duke played by Richard Roxburgh
- The Duke is the wrench in the wheel if this love story about Christian and Satine. Zidler convinces him to invest in his play in order to turn the Moulin Rouge into a theatre. In return, the Duke requires a contract that bonds Satine to him, exclusively. If the contract is broken, the Duke recieves the deeds to the Moulin Rouge. Christian and Satine keep their love in secret, but the Duke eventually finds out and he tries to kill Christian. In the end, the Duke looses and is left alone to wallow in his self-pity.
"Why would the courtesan choose the penniless sitar player over the maharajah?"
~The Duke
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The Green Fairy
- The Green Fairy played by Kylie Menogue
- The Green Fairy is an illusion seen by the Bohemians when they drink absinthe. She only appears in the beginning of the movie. She signals the beginning of Christian's change during his journey of self-discovery.
"The hills are alive with the sound of music."
~The Green Fairy
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"The show must go on!"
~Zidler
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