Continuity mistake: When Toulouse enters Christian's room at the beginning of the film the door knob is about shoulder height for him. When Christian yells at Toulouse later to go away as he exits the room the door handle is about hip level. (00:05:35)
Continuity mistake: During the scene where Satine and Zidler are together on the stand singing 'Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend', Satine takes off her right glove and shakes it in her right hand. In the next shot, it is her left glove and she has her right glove back on. (00:16:30)
Continuity mistake: The scar on the Duke's bodyguard's face switches from one cheek to the other throughout the movie, due to flipped shots. (00:17:30)
Continuity mistake: When Satine says, "It's lady's choice.", from a front view, the Argentinian is very close to the bearded man, but from a back shot they are farther away. (00:18:45)
Continuity mistake: When Satine is dancing with Christian in the first Moulin Rouge scene, her pink feather dress's straps are very thin. But when Chocolat sets her down backstage after she has fainted, her straps are much thicker and are more intricate. This is mentioned on the DVD - the later scene was filmed first, and changes had to be made to the dress in order for Nicole Kidman to dance around in it. (00:19:40 - 00:21:30)
Continuity mistake: When Christian and Satine finish singing the Elephant Love Medley, Satine leans in to kiss Christian. When she does this, she tilts her head to the left, but when they go to a wide shot, it shows her tilting to the right. (00:50:35)
Continuity mistake: When Nicole Kidman is singing "Diamonds...etc" on stage, just after she coughs there is a shot of 'the maharaja' turning to look at 'the duke'. Then it cuts to a wide shot of the stage and 'the maharaja' is facing Kidman - check out his turban in the center of the screen at the bottom. It cuts back and forth like this for a few shots. (01:36:40)
Continuity mistake: While Christian and Satine are singing the Come What May finale, you see Christian walking towards the stage to join Satine. Christian passes the conductor, yet when the camera angle changes, the conductor is nowhere to be seen. (01:45:50)
Continuity mistake: At the end of 'Come What May' during the play, in the shot where Toulouse is hanging from the piece of wood, he is supposed to fall off and grab a rope and swing. In the shot, however, he falls straight down, off the screen, and then he is magically back in the shot and swinging off a rope. (01:50:50)
Continuity mistake: After Harry Zidler first sees Christian and Satine kissing, when they stop kissing, Satine's lipstick switches from being smeared to perfectly done and bright red when she walks and when Zidler is talking to her about having to end the infatuation.
Continuity mistake: Just before the end, Telouse is dressed as the Sitar and is shot up into the catwalk holding a bottle of wine. He wants to warn Christian about the assassin and starts to walk through the catwalk. There are times when he is holding onto the bottle and there are times when no bottle is present.
Continuity mistake: When Satine goes to see Christian after the Duke almost rapes her, she has either no or very little lipstick on cause her lips are pink. But after about 2 or 3 camera shots, she has her red lipstick on again, which is also unsmeared unlike the rest of her makeup.
Continuity mistake: In the 'Come What May' sequence in the theater, in some shots, after Nini tells the Duke about Satine and Christian, the other dancers are sitting in chairs and there is a giant pile of chairs that the stage crew is setting up. But when the Duke says he doesn't like the ending, there are no chairs, no dancers, and no stage crew.
Continuity mistake: When Satine grabs the Duke's legs in the Red Room, she is on her knees and you can see she is not wearing any shoes for about 1 second in the frame. Then she stands up and is therefore about the same height as the Duke. But before and after this scene she is wearing high heels.
Continuity mistake: When Satine and Christian suddenly appear on stage you see the two golden doors close behind them. In the next shot, however, the doors are open again and do not close until later in that scene.
Continuity mistake: When Toulouse remembers his line during the play, he jumps onto the wood to go down. In the shot, he lands on his side and is holding onto the rope and is fully on the piece of wood. In the next shot, however, he is hanging from the edge off of the wood.
Continuity mistake: At the beginning of the like a virgin dance number, there are 4 dancers spinning around the duke and Zidler. One of the 4 dancers has thick sideburns in one shot, then they disappear, then reappear, and so on.
Continuity mistake: During the Elephant Love Medly, Satine and Christian are walking back into the Elephant. Before Christian walks into the Elephant, his hair is visibly messed up and hanging into his eyes. When he walks into the Elephant, his hair is combed back and perfect. Another shot later his hair is in his eyes again.
Continuity mistake: When Satine is with the Duke on the bed, she tells him to get out. The side shot shows her pushing him out, but the behind shot shows her pushing him out again.
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Satine meets the Duke for the first time in the elephant, Christian is hiding behind the table and Satine is trying to distract the Duke. After she does her 'dance', the Duke asks her if she wants some champagne. When she yells, she reaches out with her left hand. When she is shown again, she is reaching out with her right.
Answer: If Satine runs, the Duke takes control of the Moulin Rouge and shuts the place down, putting everyone she works with onto the streets. If she stays with the Duke, she'll still die, but the Duke won't have any real reason to shut things down. She could run away with Christian and have a few days of freedom and love with him, but she'd be condemning everyone at the Moulin Rouge to destitution, plus the Duke would probably have Christian hunted down and killed. By staying for her final few days, she saves everyone that she loves, at the price of her own happiness (and that of Christian, but at least she'll save his life).
Tailkinker ★