Continuity mistake: When Satine is singing "One day I'll fly away", Christian climbs up the elephant and encounters her. He leans on a column with a red ball. The ball keeps moving between shots, even though Christian keeps still in the same position, watching Satine. Sometimes the ball is down, sometimes up, sometimes close to him.
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: When Satine and Christian first kiss in the Elephant you can see Satine's hair is down on the side of her face. Then it is tucked back behind her ear a second later.
Continuity mistake: In the final scene, when they are performing the play before the audience, watch as Satine makes her initial appearance and rises up out of the floor. In some shots, you can see her leg sticking out through the slit in her dress, in other shots, her leg is still inside her dress.
Continuity mistake: When Harry Zidler tells everyone at the Moulin to Hunkadoola away, he changes the sign below him to "Hunkadoola". However when the camera shot changes to wide the sign reads "Moulin Rouge" instead.
Visible crew/equipment: When Satine is singing 'One day I'll fly away,' she goes up the steps to the top of the elephant. If you look to the top windows of the building behind her, you can see a strange shape gliding past the lit windows from left to right. I'm not sure what it is, since it isn't the shape of a person and it looks like it's on a track. Then when Satine sings, 'Why live life from dream to dream?' the shape goes back from right to left, and at the last second, before it cuts to Christian, the lights go out. Now, I've seen the behind-the-scenes of footage of Moulin Rouge, and that scene was probably behind a blue screen so I haven't a clue what the shape is.
Continuity mistake: When Christian knocks over the candle in the Red Room, the flame goes out and there is another shot of it out. Then suddenly there is a shot of the candle knocked over but still burning on the table and it's reflected in some of the silverware. Then the next shot of the table, the candle is suddenly out again.
Continuity mistake: During the end of One Day I'll Fly Away, Satine intended to sit on top of the elephant room. When she was still standing, part of her hair was in front of her left shoulder. However when she sat and sang "Fly, fly, away" (the next shot) none of her hair was in front of the shoulder.
Continuity mistake: After Christian and Satine start the final song onstage and everyone begins dancing, the Argentinian and the old, bearded man are on the right side of the stage. In the next shot, they're on the other side of C and S, dancing with the other two Bohemians.
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)
Factual error: According to the "Eyewitness Travel Guides: Paris" of 1993, the Moulin Rouge only started to be a dance saloon in the year of 1900. When Ewan McGregor arrives in Paris in 1899 the dance saloon is open.
Continuity mistake: During the "Like a Virgin" sequence, when the Duke is sitting on a couch, his hair changes between the shots: From loose to perfectly brushed and straight.
Continuity mistake: During Satine's first number, Diamonds, when she is on the trapeze, her lipstick is a bright red. It changes to a dark pink and then back to red during the song and is finally pink when she has passed out.
Continuity mistake: During the "Rhythm of the Night" dance sequence you see The Petite Princess singing on the bar in a hindu outfit behind the gnarly men. After that you see her in her can can skirt. Then any time you see the gnarly men she's back in the hindu outfit.
Continuity mistake: In the end of "Your Song" when Satine and Christian return to the Elephant Room, Satine puts her right arm around Christian's neck. Shots from Satine's right side reveal her right forearm (you can see her elbow), but shots from her left side show that her sleeve cover the entire forearm, and uncover it when she doesn't put her arm in Christian's neck anymore (touch his shoulder).
Continuity mistake: When Christian and Satine are up on the elephant and she is about to leave, you see him put his hand on the pole. Then it cuts to another shot and you see him put his hand on it again in a different way.
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 ★