Above all, it is a picture to see, without a critics's notebook, as a rare pleasure.

| Feb 24, 2017

Nostalgic studio-bound Hollywood-like splashy pic about the beginnings of the Moulin Rouge.

| Original Score: B | Nov 2, 2012

A simple story told with abundant charm.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 7, 2011

Begins with an extended and breathtaking evocation of the Moulin Rouge at its most ravishing, one of the cinema's greatest sequences.

| Aug 7, 2011

It is unashamedly nostalgic and somewhat meandering but chock full of colour and affection for its characters.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 5, 2011

The glorious final sequence, in which the cancan is finally unveiled to the rowdy audience, is some kind of masterpiece, perhaps the equal of anything Renoir ever achieved: wild, free, turbulent, exhilarating.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 4, 2011

Nothing if not thoroughly enjoyable.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 4, 2011

[It] was not the cinema event it promised to be. Yet there is still much to treasure in this exuberant tribute to the Moulin Rouge.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 4, 2011

If the film lacks the social bite of Renoir's pre-war work, it's still a rich celebration of life and the director's own birthplace.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 1, 2011

A playful, colorful spectacle from the late era of Renoir.

| Original Score: A | Jul 3, 2011

French Cancan is full of fire, and incredibly sexy for 1954.

| May 4, 2010

French Cancan vibrantly brings to life the dawning days of the Moulin Rouge, complete with high-kicking choristers flaunting their frills.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Aug 30, 2006

...the fin de siecle Paris of our imagination, or of Auguste Renoir's paintings. Renoir's finale blends exhilarating showmanship and a carriageload of characters reconciled, their intrigues and follies stepping aside for 'the show must go on.'

| Apr 7, 2006

M. Renoir's affectionate picture hasn't quite the class of Huston's Moulin Rouge. But it makes for diverting entertainment as sheer sentimental spectacle.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 25, 2006

The climactic cancan scene is one of the finest dance sequences ever filmed, and worth the price of a ticket on its own.

| Jan 26, 2006

In wonderful color

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | May 28, 2005

This is lighter than usual fare for Renoir, but his usual gracefulness is ever-present and he adds a distinct human center to the color and dazzle.

| Sep 6, 2004

It's a true spectacle; Renoir suggests that, potentially, for those involved in theater, all of life is.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 22, 2004

The birth of the Moulin Rouge lights up the screen in Jean Renoir's breathtaking, colourful vision of a bygone Paris.

| May 24, 2003

This 1955 Technicolor musical is the easiest to like of Jean Renoir's late films, full of color, movement, and romance.

| May 7, 2003