-
Toulouse-Lautrec: I got it, I got it. Christian.
[shouts]
Toulouse-Lautrec: The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.
-
Christian: [to the Duke] This woman is yours now. I've paid my whore.
[to Satine]
Christian: I owe you nothing. And you are nothing to me. Thank you for curing me of my ridiculous obsession with love.
-
Zidler: I am the evil maharajah.
Satine: Oh Harold, no one could play him like you could.
Zidler: No one's going to.
-
Zidler: Send Christian away. Only you can save him.
-
The Duke: I don't like this ending...
Zidler: Don't like the ending, my dear Duke?
The Duke: Why should the courtesan chose the penniless sitar player over the maharajah who is offering her a lifetime of security? That's real love. Once the sitar player has satisfied his lust he will leave her with nothing. I suggest that the courtesan chose the maharajah.
Toulouse-Lautrec: But, but tell me, that ending does not uphold the Bohemian ideals of truth, beauty, freedom, and...
The Duke: [shouts] I don't care about your ridiculous dogma! Why shouldn't the courtesan chose the maharajah?
Christian: [shouts] Because she doesn't love you!... Him... Hi-him, she doesn't love... she doesn't love him.
The Duke: Oh, I see... Monsieur Zidler, the play will be rewritten with the courtesan choosing the maharajah and without the lovers' secret song. It will be rehearsed in the morning, ready for the opening tomorrow night...
Zidler: But, my dear Duke, that will be quite impossible.
Satine: Harold, the Duke is being treated appallingly. These silly writers let their imaginations run away with themselves. Why don't you and I have a little supper, and then we can tell Monsieur Zidler how we would like the story to end.
-
Satine: I don't need you anymore! All my life you made believe I was only worth what someone would pay for me! But Christian loves me. He loves me! He loves me, Harold. And that is worth everything! We're going away from you, away from the Duke, away from the Moulin Rouge!
-
Christian, Satine: Come what may, I will love you until my dying day.
-
Satine: What's his type? Wilting flower? Bright and bubbly? Or smoldering temptress?
Zidler: I'd say... smoldering temptress.
-
[last lines]
Christian: [voiceover and typing] Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months. And then, one not-so-very special day, I went to my typewriter, I sat down, and I wrote our story. A story about a time, a story about a place, a story about the people. But above all things, a story about love. A love that will live forever. The End.
Christian: [voiceover, singing] The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.
-
Nini Legs-In-The-Air: Don't worry Shakespeare, you'll get your ending. Once the Duke gets his end-in.
-
Cast of Spectacular, Spectacular: [singing] So exciting, we'll make them laugh, we'll make them cry. So delighting...
The Duke: And in the end, should someone die?
-
Satine: Tell our story Christian, that way I'll-I'll always be with you.
-
Christian: Where were you last night?
Satine: I told you... I was sick.
Christian: You don't have to lie to me.
Satine: We have to end it. Everybody knows. Harold knows. Sooner or later the Duke will find out.
-
Christian: [singing] The courtesan and sitar man are pulled apart by an evil plan...
Satine: [singing] but in the end she hears his song...
Christian: [singing] and their love is just too strong.
The Duke: [singing] It's a little bit funny, this feeling inside.
-
Zidler: You're dying, Satine.
Satine: [long pause] Another trick, Harold?
Zidler: The doctor told us.
Satine: Marie?
Marie: [silence]
Satine: [singing to self] I was a fool to believe, a fool to believe. It all ends today, yes it all ends today.
-
Zidler: The Duke holds the deeds to the Moulin Rouge, he's spending a fortune on you, he's giving you a beautiful new dressing room, he wants to make you a star, and YOU'RE DALLYING WITH THE WRITER!
Satine: Harold, that's ridic...
Zidler: I SAW YOU TOGETHER.
Satine: It's nothing. It's just an infatuation... it's nothing.
Zidler: The infatuation will end. Go to the boy; tell him it's over, and the Duke is expecting you in the tower at eight.
-
Satine: Besides, I can't fall in love with anyone
Christian: Can't... fall... in love? But, a life without love, that's... terrible...
Satine: No, being on the street, that's terrible.
Christian: No! Love is like oxygen!
Satine: What?
Christian: Love is a many splendored thing. Love lifts us up where we belong. All you need is love!
Christian: [bursts out into song]
-
Christian: It's a little bit funny.
Satine: What?
Christian: This feeling inside. I'm not one of those who can easily hide. Is this ok? Is this what you want?
Satine: Ah, poetry. Yes, this it what I want naughty words.
Christian: I don't have much money but boy if I did, I'd buy a big house where we both could live. If I were a sculptor, but then again, no. Or a man who makes potions a traveling show. I know it's not much...
Satine: Oh Naughty, don't stop, don't stop.
Christian: But it's the best I can do.
[sings]
Christian: My gift is my song. And this one's for you. And you can tell everybody that this is your song. It may be quite simple but now that it's done. I hope you don't mind, I hope you don't mind that I put down in words... how wonderful life is now you're in the world.
-
Toulouse-Lautrec: 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, if only because I long for it with every fiber of my being.
-
Christian: Tell me the truth.
Satine: The truth? The truth is that I am the Hindu courtesan... and I choose the maharajah.
-
Argentinean: Never fall in love with a woman who sells herself. It always ends...
Argentinean: [screams] BAD!
-
Zidler: Send Christian away.
Satine: He will fight for me.
Zidler: Unless he believes that you don't love him.
Satine: What?
Zidler: You're a great actress, Satine. Make him believe that you don't love him.
Satine: No!
Zidler: Use your talent to save him! Hurt him, Satine. Hurt him to save him. There is no other way. The show must go on. We are creatures of the underworld. We can't afford to love.
-
Zidler: The show must go on, Satine. We're creatures of the underworld. We can't afford to love.
-
Argentinean: We have a dance in the brothels of Buenos Aires. It tells the story of the prostitute and a man who falls in love with her. First, there is desire. Then, passion. Then, suspicion. Jealousy. Anger. Betrayal. When love is for the highest bidder, there can be no trust. Without trust, there can be no love. Jealousy, yes, jealousy will drive you mad.
-
Toulouse-Lautrec: Oh no, I forgot my line.
-
Zidler: You know it is. The show must go on. And now my bride it is time to raise your voice to the heavens and say your wedding vows.
-
Christian: The Moulin Rouge. A night club, a dance hall and a bordello. Ruled over by Harold Zidler. A kingdom of night time pleasures. Where the rich and powerful came to play with the young and beautiful creatures of the underworld. The most beautiful of these was the one I loved. Satine. A courtesan. She sold her love to men. They called her the "Sparkling Diamond", and she was the star... of the Moulin rouge. The woman I loved is... dead.
-
Argentinean: You're a beautiful woman.
[whispers]
Argentinean: I love sex.
-
Zidler: She said you make her feel "like a virgin."
The Duke: Virgin?
Zidler: You know, touched for the very first time.
-
Satine: I can't believe it. I'm in love. I'm in love with a young, handsome, talented duke.
Christian: Duke?
Satine: Not that the title's important, of course.
Christian: I'm not a duke.
Satine: Not a duke?
Christian: I'm a writer.
Satine: A writer?
-
[Before kissing Christian]
Satine: You're going to be bad for business. I can tell.
-
Satine: A little supper? Maybe some champagne?
Christian: I'd rather, um, just get it over and done with.
Satine: Hmph. Oh. Very well. Then why don't you come down here and let's get it over and done with.
Christian: I prefer to do it standing.
Satine: Oh.
[starts to stand]
Christian: You don't have to stand, I mean. It's sometimes that... It's quite long and I'd like you to be comfortable. It's quite modern what I do and it may feel a little strange at first, but I think, if you're open, then you might enjoy it.
-
Satine: I'm sure I will...
-
Satine: The French are glad to die for love. They delight in fighting duels. But I prefer a man who lives... and gives expensive... jewels.
-
Zidler: She is mine.
The Duke: She is mine.
-
Zidler: Outside it may be raining, but in here it's entertaining.
-
Toulouse-Lautrec: Things aren't always as they seem.
Christian: Things are exactly the way they seem.
-
Christian: 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.
-
The Duke: It's not that I'm not a jealous man. I just don't like other people touching my things.
-
[singing]
Zidler: 'Cause we can cancan. Yes we can cancan.
-
Argentinean: [arriving on stage after falling unconscious for a time] S'okay. Everybody go back to work.
-
Toulouse-Lautrec: Unbewievable. Stwaight to the ewephant.
-
The Green Fairy: I'm the Green Fairy... The hills are alive, with The Sound Of Music.
-
Argentinean: The Hills are alive with the sound of music? I love it.
-
Zidler: A magnificent, opulent, tremendous, stupendous, gargantuan, bedazzlement, a sensual ravishment. It will be: Spectacular Spectacular.
-
The Duke: ...a little frog
-
Nini Legs-In-The-Air: This ending's silly. Why would the courtesan go for the penniless writer? Whoops. I mean sitar player.
-
Toulouse-Lautrec: He's got a huge... talent .
-
Satine: The difference between you and I is that you can leave anytime you choose. But this is my home.
-
Zidler: Outside things may be tragic, but in here we feel its magic.
-
[the bohemians are rehearsing a play that resembles a certain musical that begins with a nun singing atop a hill]
Toulouse-Lautrec: [singing] The hills are made with the euphonious symphonies of descant...
Doctor: I don't think a nun would say that about a hill.
-
Zidler: Everything's going so well.
-
Christian: [v.o] Luckily, right at that moment, an unconscious Argentinean fell through my roof.
[With a loud crash, the Narcoleptic Argentinean falls through the ceiling]
Christian: [v.o] He was quickly joined by a dwarf dressed as a nun.
-
The Duke: You expect me to believe that scantily clad, in the arms of another man, in the middle of the night, inside an elephant you were rehearsing?
-
Zidler: Remember, a real show, in a real theater, with a real audience. And you'll be...
Satine: A real actress.
-
The Duke: Generally I like it.
-
Satine: [singing] Never knew I could feel like this. Like I've never seen the sky before. Want to vanish inside your kiss, every day I'm loving you more and more. Listen to my heart, can you hear it sing? Come back to me- and forgive everything.
[gasp]
Satine: Seasons may change, winter to spring... I love you 'til the end of time.
-
Satine: [to herself, singing] When will I begin to live again? One day I'll fly away... leave all this to yesterday. Why live life from dream to dream, and dread the day when dreaming ends.
-
Satine: Harold, the cat's out of the bag!
-
Satine: [sings] A kiss on the hand may be, quite continental, but diamonds are a girls best friend! A kiss may be grand but it, won't pay the rental on your humble flat, or help you feed your mmhm pussycat! Men grow cold as girls grow old, and we all loose our charms in the end... But square-cut or pear-shaped, these rocks don't loose their shape; Diamonds are a girl's best friend!
-
Satine: [singing] Today's the day...
Satine, Zidler: [singing] When dreaming ends
-
Christian: Wait. No, please wait. Before, when we were... when you thought I was the Duke, you said that you loved me, a- and I wondered if...
Satine: It was just an act?
Christian: Yes.
Satine: Of course.
Christian: Oh. It just felt real.
Satine: Christian, I'm a courtesan. I'm paid to make men believe what they want to believe.
-
Argentinean: It's like; one is a Duke, and the other...
[Argentinean falls asleep and falls down stairs]
-
The Duke: Why shouldn't the courtesan go for the maharajah?
Christian: Because she doesn't love you. Him... hi... him... sh... she doesn't love... him...
-
Satine: Harold, the poor Duke is being treated appallingly. These silly writers let their imaginations run away with them.
[to the Duke]
Satine: Now why don't you and I have a little supper. And then afterwards, we can let Monsieur Zidler know how we would prefer the story to end.
-
Argentinean: The boy has talent.
[Grabs Christian's crotch]
Argentinean: [Christian gasps]
Argentinean: Nothing funny, I just like talent.
-
Satine: [enters Christian's loft in hysterics] Oh, thank goodness!
[she hugs Christian and begins crying]
Satine: I couldn't! I couldn't go through with it! I saw you there and I felt differently! I couldn't pretend!
[sobbing]
Satine: And the Duke he saw! He saw and he-Christian, I love you.
[continues to hug him]
Christian: [quietly] It's okay.
Satine: [sobbing] I couldn't deal with it! I don't want to pretend anymore! I didn't want to lie! I don't -
[takes a breath and calms down]
Satine: And he knows! He knows and he saw you!
Christian: That's all right. You don't have to pretend anymore. We'll leave. We'll leave tonight.
Satine: Leave? Wh-the show wh-?
Christian: I don't care. I don't care about the show. We have each other. That's all that matters.
Satine: Yes. As long as we have each other. We have each other.
[they kiss]
Christian: [turns to Chocolat] Chocolat. Take Miss Satine to her dressing room and get the things she needs. No one must see you. Do you understand?
Le Chocolat: I understand.
Christian: [to Satine] Now darling you go and pack, and I'll be waiting.
[he wraps his coat around Satine and gives her a final kiss]
-
Satine: We're going away, away from you, away from the Duke, away from the Moulin Rouge. Goodbye Harold!
-
Zidler: ...And you're dallying with the writer.
Satine: Oh, Harold, don't be ridicul...
Zidler: I saw you together.
Satine: It's nothing. It's just an infatuation. It's... it's nothing.
-
Zidler: [singing] If life's an awful bore, and living's just a chore that we do caus' death's not much fun. I just have the antidote, and though I mustn't gloat at the Moulin Rouge. You'll have fun... Scratch that little niggle, have a little wiggle, you know that you can... Because we can can can.
-
Toulouse-Lautrec: How do you do? My name is Henri Marie Raymond Toulouse-Lautrec Montfa.
Christian: What?
Toulouse-Lautrec: I'm terribly sorry about all this. We're just upstairs rehearsing a play.
Christian: What?
-
Christian: We were off to the Moulin Rouge and I was to perform my poetry for Satine.
-
Satine: [to Christian] On opening night I have to sleep with the Duke, and the jealousy will drive you mad.
-
Christian: [singing] Why does my heart cry? Feelings I can't fight... you're free to leave me, but just don't deceive me, and please believe me when I say I love you!
-
Satine: Please tell me you're not one of Toulouse's oh so talented, charmingly bohemian, tragically impoverished writers?
-
Bohemians: [singing towards the Duke] No matter what you say the show is ending our way. You've gotta stand your ground for freedom, beauty, truth, and love.
-
[first lines]
Toulouse-Lautrec: [singing] There was a boy, a very strange enchanted boy...
-
Christian: [singing] His eyes upon your face. His hand upon your hand. His lips caress your skin. It's more than I can stand!
-
Satine: Come and get me boys!
-
Christian: How could I know... in those last fatal days... that a force darker than jealousy... and stronger than love; had began to take hold of Satine...
Zidler: Where is she?
-
Christian: I've come to pay my bill.
-
Christian: Mademaiselle Satine, I haven't quite finished writing that new scene. The "Will The Lovers Be Meeting at the Sitar Player's Humble Abode" scene. And I wondered if I could work on it with you later tonight.
The Duke: But, my dear, I've arranged a magnificent supper for us in the Gothic Tower.
Christian: It's not important. We could work on it tomorrow.
Satine: Oh, how dare you! It cannot wait until tomorrow. The "Lovers Will Be Meeting in the Sitar Player's Humble Abode" scene is the most important in the production. We will work on it tonight until I am completely satisfied.
The Duke: B-But my dear...
Satine: Dear Duke. Excuse me.
Christian: [smiles] I'm sorry.
-
Satine: [singing] I'll top the bill/ I'll earn the kill/ I have to find the will to carry on with the, on with the, on with the show.
-
Christian: [singing] Sat on the roof/ and I kicked off the moss/ and some of these verses, well they/ they've got me quite cross/ but the sun's been kind/ while I wrote this song/ It's for people like you that/ keep it turned on/ so excuse me forgetting/ but these things I do/ you see I've forgotten if they're green or they're blue/ the whole thing is/ what I really mean/ your's are the sweetest eyes/ I've ever seen .
-
Christian: The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.
-
Zidler: [after the Argentinian collapses asleep in mid-rehearsal] Honestly amigo, this is impossible!
-
Christian: India! India! It's set in India! And there's a courtesan, the most beautiful courtesan in all the world.
[Turns to the Duke]
Christian: But her kingdom's invaded by an evil Maharaja! Now, in order to save her kingdom, she has to seduce the evil Maharaja. But on the night of the seduction, she mistakes a penniless po- a penniless- a penniless sitar player for the evil Maharaja and she falls in love with him!
[turns to Satine]
Christian: He wasn't trying to trick her or anything, but he was dressed as a Maharaja because... he's appearing in a play!
-
Nini Legs-In-The-Air: [to Christian] Don't worry Shakespeare, you'll get your ending. Once the Duke gets his... "end" in.
-
Cast of Spectacular, Spectacular: [singing] Spectacular, Spectacular! No words in the vernacular can describe this great event, you'll be dumb with wonderment!
-
Satine: I'm sorry, Christian, I'm dying.
Christian: No, you'll be alright
Satine: I'm so sorry, Christian. I'm sorry.
[brief pause]
Satine: I'm cold. Hold me.
[long pause]
Satine: You've got to carry on without me, Christian.
Christian: I can't carry on without you.
Satine: You have so much to give.
Christian: No.
Satine: Ye. Tell our story, Christian.
Christian: I love you.
Satine: [smiles] Tell our story, Christian, that way I'll always be with you.
Christian: Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months, and then on not-so very special day, I sat down at my type-writer and I wrote down our story. A story about a time, a story about a place, a story about the people. But most importantly, a story about love. A love that will live forever. The end.
-
Christian: I had come to write about truth, beauty, freedom, and that which I believed in above all things: love.
-
The Duke: Conversion of the Moulin Rouge into a theatre will cost a fantastic sum of money, Zidler. So, in return, I would require a contract that, um... binds Satine to me, exclusively.
[Zidler raises his eyebrows]
The Duke: Naturally, I shall require some security. I shall require the deeds to the Moulin Rouge.
Zidler: My dear Duke, I...
The Duke: Please! Don't think that I'm naive, Zidler. I shall hold the deeds to the Moulin Rouge. And if there are any shenanigans...
Zidler: I...
The Duke: My manservant, Warner, will deal with it in the only language that you underworld showfolk understand. Satine will be mine. It's not that I'm a jealous man...
[suddenly irate]
The Duke: I JUST DON'T... LIKE OTHER PEOPLE TOUCHING MY THINGS!
[calms down]
Zidler: I... understand completely... Duke.
Moulin Rouge! Quotes
Extended Reading
