This film isn’t as popular or famous as it should be. It was the only film of Renoir’s Technicolor trilogy to score a box-office success, it was the last time Jean Gabin worked with Renoir and yet it’s not among the most written about of Renoirs. It’s shot on aritficial sets with the bright colours of Renoir’s father and his friends serving as a reference point(though not as obvious as Huston’s MOULIN ROUGE), it’s about the founding of the Moulin Rouge though it isn’t accurate at all.
The film is about the joy of performance, of offering the body for the aesthetic pleasure of the audience. Renoir explores all the different angles in this film which is about the birth of show-biz and he does it with a lightness that is totally unique. The final CanCan scene is a feast for the senses.