Moulin Rouge! (2001 film)/Headscratchers

• The scene where Zidler tells Satine about the Duke being "the one Toulouse is shaking a hanky at..." and they peek back and forth to helpfully get Christian as the Duke in Satine's mind, are we supposed to believe Toulouse knew exactly that Zidler was going to say that? Or has he just introduced sooo many people to Satine that he knew exactly what Zidler would tell Satine, and the timing of their spins?
  • Um, no? He was pointing out that the duke was the one Toulouse was shaking his hanky at because Toulouse was shaking his hanky at him and that was a pretty good indicator.
  • Zidler was just pointing out the Duke with an obvious indicator that he could see--Toulouse shaking a hanky at him. He didn't count on Toulouse turning around and grabbing Christian's. It was a coincidence that set the whole movie up.
    • The entirety of that scene involves Toulouse TRYING to apologize for knocking a drink in the Duke's lap, but only does it long enough for Zidler and Satine to get all sorts of confused about who the Duke is, and THEN Toulouse drops the facade and throws the hankie in the Duke's face... it's suspiciously timed, if nothing else...
      • I think (correct me if I'm wrong here) that the original troper thought that Toulouse and intentionally set up the situation and intended Christian to be mistaken for the Duke - my interpretation was that Toulouse had set up a meeting for Christian as a writer, and Satine/Zidler had forgotten or just ignored this as the meeting with the Duke was far more important. The mistaken identity was a happy coincidence as far as Toulouse was concerned. The hanky confusion was just that - confusion. It's a bit far-fetched to think that Toulouse could somehow have orchestrated the hanky mess up, and the reason he switched after apologising and called the Duke and his minder "Bourgeois pigs!" was because he was drunk on absinthe and they were being obnoxious. One person's suspicious timing is another's serendipitous, story-starting coincidence...
• WHY does Zidler want to turn the Moulin Rouge into a theatre? It's obviously doing fantastically well as a nightclub.
  • Respectability, probably - a respectable theatre establishment can attract a much more upscale clientele than a nightclub. Even if the nightclub can get a handful of rich guys looking for a fun night of debauchery, the theater can attract a larger number of wealthy patrons, who can bring their sweethearts or even whole families, increasing revenue through ticket sales.
  • Along the same lines, respectability as an end unto itself. Zidler may well be tired of being 'in the game,' so to speak.
  • Then why not open the theater, or convert it? Did they really need the Duke? Look at how much money was being offered nightly. And those pimped-out-dresses could have probably had a few auctioned off.
• Why couldn't Satine have told Christian the truth instead of doing the whole Break His Heart to Save Him? Couldn't they had come up with some sort of plan together on how to handle the situation instead?
  • Because the duke is an incredibly powerful, wealthy, important man, and they are a penniless writer and a dying high class prostitute. There is very little they could have done, and she probably thought there was no use putting his life in danger for her if she's already on death's door.
  • On that end then, why not tell him about the consumption--surely he wouldn't want to sleep with her then. Make it a "we just found out" kind of deal or something
• Why is there a Duke in France 1899? France had abolished the nobility after the fall of the third empire in 1870.
• Why do they even need the Duke's help to build a theatre? Their club is already pretty close to a theatre the conversion looks like all it would need is to install chairs and a curtain; that can't be very expensive.
  • Not to mention they already have a ton of money with which to do the conversion; the first scene in the club clearly shows that they have a lot of rich people throwing money at them every night, so why do they need even more just to build a stage?
• The future of the Moulin Rouge hinges on the successful performance of its new show Spectacular Spectacular! Aside from all the behind-the-scenes issues with Satine, the Duke and Christian, there's a more obvious problem: why did they give the role of the male protagonist in such an important performance to a man who has repeatedly proven himself a risk to its successful completion due to his narcolepsy?