Satine Body

It is fitting that Christian, the representation of the emotional side of the body, would be in love with Satine, the living embodiment of pure physicality and sexuality. Her story arc revolves entirely around her physical body and the ailments that come with it. Satine is the lead dancer, and courtesan of the Moulin Rouge and all the men desire her for her dazzling looks. She is compared to a diamond, which is a beautiful stone that can only be destroyed by itself. This is key since by the end of the film, Satine’s own body is what kills her. In the opening song of “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend” Satine is presented to us as a ethereal figure bathed in a pale white light, making her skin look almost skeletal. The imagery of her dressed in either white,
flesh-tone or red is a direct homage to the physical body, the red being muscle and blood, the white being the skeletal system and the flesh-tone being human skin.
With Satine being essentially a prostitute, thus a human whose career is based entirely around the sale of one’s body, the decision to clothe her in bodily colors is to remind the audience that she is not an actual human with a soul but instead just a body. Satine attempts to take control of who uses her body, but fails in her attempt. During the scene where Satine first meets Christian, whom she believes to be the Duke she is meant to seduce, she attempts to physically force herself onto Christian after a prolonged sexually suggestive conversation. This can be interpreted as the body attempting to control its emotions, but is unable to once it is introduced to the idea of love, a powerful emotion that she once felt herself immune to. The song “This is your song” marks the official joining of the emotional and physical aspects of the body. The scene is followed by the two sharing a secret yet intensely passionate romance, as evident by the montage of their “rehearsals” and the brief image implying a sex scene. Despite the promiment looming of her tuberculosis, the illness is rarely shown during the scenes where she is with Christian, showing a healthy relationship between the emotions
and the body. In contrast to the healthy nature of Christian and Satine’s relationship, Satine and the Duke’s relationship is one consisting almost solely out of a desire for her body. When she is essentially blackmailed into being with the Duke under fear of Christian being killed, she resorts back to trying to use her body as her greatest asset. When faced with a distressing situation, the body sometimes has to resort to “turning off your feelings” in order to operate and save itself from the pain. Despite her attempts at simply shutting down her mind and allowing herself to be used, her newfound feelings of love cause her to rebel and thus nearly get raped. This is a direct mirror to her attempting to force her own body on a mostly unwilling Christian. In the final song of the film “Come What May”, Satine is reunited with Christian and professes her love. She is overcoming her demons and choosing to embrace love. Sadly Christian’s love is not enough to save her physical body as she succumbs to Tuberculosis.