Moulin Rouge

"The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return. "

If this sentence looks familiar you probably already know what I'm talking about: the Moulin Rouge!

For those who don't know, the Moulin Rouge is a very famous nightclub in Paris and also scenery for a great musical movie with the same name.

It used to be a place where gentleman would go to watch dancers and stripper back in the beggining of the 20th century. It is known for its history and also for the facade, with an actual moulin rouge (french expression for a red mill) and sparkling lettering.

Nowadays it is a show house and a club, where theatre, dance and music spectacles take place. And it is also a very touristic spot for those who know the movie or not.

History

Moulin Rouge was built in 1889, in the edge of Belle Époque, a period in European history when the cities were growing and becoming more and more fancy. People in Europe, and mostly France, were happy and celebrating the end of the Franco-Prussian war - and didn't know yet that in 1914 another great war would start - the 1st world war.

During that time, Paris had become a bourgeois city, where many artists, writers, poets, musicians, to sum up - all the elite would gather for parties and celebrating. The city was also going through a great urban reform, made by Haussmann, and several avenues were built, making it an even more fancy place.

Moulin Rouge became then a place for the bohemian artists to spend their nights. It was a very sucessful club for many years until the World Wars came.

The movie

Many artists from the 20th century dedicated part of their work to the Moulin Rouge, since some of them been there during their life. In 2001, though, the film director Baz Luhrmann made a movie that takes place there.

The movie is about a young poet, called Christian (played by Ewan McGregor), who goes to Paris for starting his art carreer. He is from a rich family, but is not happy with the bourgeois life of his dad, so he goes to the big city.

In Paris, he meets other artists and they decide to go to the Moulin Rouge to show their work to financers. Once there, Christian falls in love with the most famous dancer of the club: Satin, played by Nicole Kidmann.

Their love story develops including all the drama of the beggining of the 20th century: sexism, elites, art and tuberculosis. Several musics are performed during the film, including an amazing version of "Like a Virgin", from Madonna, a cover of "Your Song" by Elton John, and a Mashup with other famous songs such as "Heroes" from David Bohie, "I love you" by Paul McCartney and much more.

Moulin rouge, the movie, has a great soundtrack, a very entertaining plot and it is very beautiful when it comes to image. It has even won an Oscar for the costumes and art direction, being indicated to many other categories such as best movie, best actress, best sound and best photography.

The movie makes the real Moulin Rouge an even more intresting and famous place. Many people visit there only because of the film.

Visits

You can see the facade of the Moulin Rouge and enter the main hall while walking around Montmartre neighbourhood in Paris. To get in, though, you must buy tickets for the shows, which can be rather expensive (from 60 euros up, for regular shows).

If you're lucky, though, you can go to one of the parties that take place inside the club - they won't cost more than 20 euros. They don't happen very often, but it's worth the shot.

Going for a party or not, Moulin Rouge is a place to go to at night, when the facade is lighen up. I reccomend visiting the surroundigs in the end of the afternoon and enjoying the beggining of the night there.

Location

The Moulin Rouge is located in a very charmy, artistic and bohemian neighbourhood in Paris: Montmatre. It is the place where artists would gather in the Belle Époque because it was away from the center of the city, therefore the rent was cheap.

Many nightclubs and bars opened there due to this concentration of young artists. Until nowadays you can find many pubs and parties there. A very cheerful place.

Also, the area has other touristic attractions, such as the Basilica Sacre Coeur, the highest in Paris, and Café des Deux Moulins, scenery of another famous movie: Amélie.

In order to go to the Moulin Rouge, you can get the subway or train in the center of Paris. The closest station for the destination is Blanche (line 2) but you can get down at Abbesses (line 12) or Gare du Nord (RER B, lines 4 and 9).

Once in Paris, don't miss Montmatre and the Moulin Rouge - and if you have time, watch the movie before going there!

The Moulin Rouge is one of the most important symbols of Montmartre after the Sacré-Cœur.

This place is famous for being one of the most important cabarets in the world, but it is actually not as famous now as it used to be towards the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth. It is situated in the Montmartre neighbourhood in the 18th arrondissement.

This cabaret house was built in 1889, just one year after the construction of the Eiffel Tower, and was founded by Charles Zidler and Joseph Oller. This period was one of the most prosperous and optimistic, characterised by the importance of art, beauty and culture (known as the Belle Époque).

Besides cabaret, this venue was also made famous for the can-can dance. Originally, this was one of the dances used by the courtesans to seduce people, but it then turned into its form of entertainment and was introduced into all cabaret shows.

I was personally quite disappointed by the building, well at least from what I could see of its exterior as I didn't actually go inside. I had visualised it as looking like the one seen in Baz Luhrmann's 'Moulin Rouge! ', which is one of my favourite films, and it honestly couldn't have been any more different. It's very small and it is surrounded by buildings that entirely contrast its style. Although, it is possible that it was more visible and better decorated to create the cabaret experience from the building's entrance back in the day. I can guess that the show has to be worth seeing, but I still haven't had that pleasure.

The Moulin Rouge has been the backdrop to many films, but I think that the most famous of those for us was that of 2001. It's a musical that was nominated for several Oscars, with Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor, two world-famous actors, starring as the top-billing actors. Aside from the film itself, its soundtrack is arguably one of the most famous in history, in spite of the fact that it includes covers of pre-existing songs, like "Your Song", "All You Need is Love" and "El Tango de Roxanne".

The closest metro stop is "Blanche" on line 2 (indigo line). If you have time, you can visit the cabaret house (although I don't think it's necessarily worth seeing), as, like you can see in the photo, it's nothing out of this world. But, as the Basilica Sacré-Cœur is one of the must-sees in Paris, you could easily wander by it, given its close proximity.

Don't go there at night - that's at least what I have been told by other people - as the Montmartre area is known for the sheer number of sex shops and erotic shows that it is home to. So, by night, Montmartre becomes a less desirable area to walk through. Besides, its night time reputation attracts certain individuals that are looking for something less than decent.

If you're desperate to learn more, you can check out this post about NYE in Paris.