20 Reasons Why Moulin Rouge is the Best Movie Musical

Image courtesy of Fox Studios

The Show Must Go On

I have a lot of favorite scenes in this movie because, again, it is one of my favorites, but this entire number truly shows the power that Nicole Kidman and Jim Broadbent have as actors. The two deliver amazing performances in a pretty outrageous movie.

Moulin Rouge would not work if the actors didn’t commit 100% to what they were doing. If anything was given half the attention it should have, it’d fall flat. But this scene especially works because both Satine and Harry feel the stakes. They know what Satine’s illness means and what will happen to the Moulin Rouge if she dies before she can run away with the Duke like she is meant to.

Maybe it is because this is one of my favorite Queen songs but hearing this version of the song really moves the audience (or just me) into really feeling for Satine. She just wants to escape and follow the love she found but her sickness is trapping her into spending her final days at the Moulin Rouge.

It also shows a side to Harry Zidler that we’d only seen glimpses of up until this point. He cares about Satine and the two share this amazing duet and truly, it is one of the most powerful moments of the film.