Moulin Rouge

The diminutive aristocratic artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec moves to Paris to pursue his art. In the process, the son of aristocratic stock is so overcome by his self-loathing that he seeks refuge in alcohol and love affairs. He becomes famous overnight when he paints a poster for his favourite establishment, the famous "Moulin Rouge". However, this does not make him happy. One night, the pretty prostitute Marie asks him for help from the police. Toulouse-Lautrec falls into a destructive whirlpool of passion, absinthe, art and the unrestrained life in Montmartre, Paris, shortly before the turn of the century...

"Moulin Rouge" is a film biography about the life of the French painter and graphic artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Director John Huston shows a long excerpt from the life of the beleaguered artist, set between Place Blanche, Place Pigalle and the legendary vaudeville theatre Moulin Rouge in a kaleidoscopically drawn Paris shortly before the turn of the century that is as sentimental as it is dramatic. Impressively, he consciously uses the artist's colour dramaturgy - he creates the world in the artist's own shapes and colours and makes them the stylistic principle of the film. The screenplay for the film is based on Pierre La Mure's novella published two years earlier. The classic film received seven Oscar nominations and won two Oscars for sets and costumes.