Toulouse Lautrec is a historical figure quoted from a letter inserted into the script by John Leguizamo: "Christian, you may see me only as a drunken vice-ridden gnome whose friends are just pimps and girls from the brothels, but I know about art and love, only because I long for it with every fibre of my being. She loves you: I know she loves you."

After an accident, his legs stopped growing and he never achieved full height. His legs constantly gave him pain. He had thick lips and drooled . He studied Art in Paris and transformed advertising, creating famous posters for the Moulin Rouge, among others Paris institutions. He favoured red-headed models, often associating with handsome young men. All his affairs were paid for. He drank himself to death. Paris art galleries refused his canvases, but his home town did not - it is now the world centre for studies of this important cultural figure.

La Goulue (the glutton) was a famous Moulin Rouge dancer, at the height of her fame when she was sixteen. She would often kick the top hats off customers.