In my review of Frida (2002), a American biography of the life a Mexican painter Frida Kalho played by Salma Hayek. The film details the political and promiscuous lives of Frida Kalho and Diego Rivera (Alfred Molina). In many cases dramas films that portray artistic painters would normally fall on deaf ears, but this movie dives deep into the psychology of Frida. At the beginning of their marriage Kahlo advises Diego Rivera that “she expects his loyalty, not his faithfulness in the marriage”. Roger Ebert describes their love affair as “a sexual faithfulness is a bourgeois ideal that they reject as Marxist bohemians who disdain the conventional”. In other words because they are apart of the communist movement, Frida and Diego chose to have an open relationship, which in the middle-class and the elite class would consider that type of lifestyle tacky and uncouth. Frida participated in lesbian and heterosexual relationships, while Diego had countless affairs with other women. Oddly, both Frida and Diego had narcissistic ways, on one hand they both had affairs, but both got jealous when the other slept with other partners. Frida had a lesbian relationship with Black entertainer Josephine Baker (famously known for her topless banana dance) and Leon Trotsky (Soviet politician and founder of the Red Army).Julie Taymor’s amazing depiction of the colorful, but complicated life of Kahlo. Frida’s father was German Jewish, while her mother was Mexican. Frida was born in Mexico City and was going to school in the field of medicine. At the age of 18 Frida was in a nearly fatal bus accident that completely impeded her ability to ave children. After the accident Frida chose to paint self portraits in order to deal with her insecurities of not being able to have children and her pain. The depictions of her portraits displayed pain and misunderstanding of dealing with herself. Each painting ingratiated her pain and views about herself being alone.Diego Rivera (Alfred Molina) was a famous muralist. He had a special gift of painting as well as sleeping with numerous women, even though he was married to his wife Lupe (Valeria Golino). Diego womanizing ways expressed his zeal for life and his male chauvinistic behaviors. When Frida and Diego first had sex, Lupe walks in on them, but later Lupe brings them breakfast in bed. Diego’s overbearing ways with women are like his painting, a work of art that must be exposed.
In the end Frida is advised she is going to die. Frida’s portraits shows her mostly alone or with Diego, which expresses her feeling of being in love for Diego and her disdain for the pains in her life such as losing the ability to have children and the pain she deals with from the accident from her youth. Her final work of art was her being in her death bed in the last scene of the movie, which highlights her struggles within herself.
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I’ve seen this docudrama. It is interesting.This film relates to the demise of the “fixed” identity reading in the “Ethnic eye.” Frida Khalo defied all expectations, and social customs. Similar to the transformation of Ana in”Real Women Have Curves”, this film depicts the complex Latinidad Femenina character that is Frida. This movie may be a result of Hollywood’s rising Latina feminism movement of the late 90’s along with the emergence of other Latina Films. I thought Salma Hayek was excellent. Great choice.This is a good movie,
I have seen this film. I enjoyed watching it because it shows how complex the Latino/a character can be. Frida’s spirit endures to this day because of the passion she had for her paintings. It seems as though her character becomes stronger after enduring all the suffering caused by the bus accident she was in. This film does well to show the multidimensional aspect of the Latino and does not fall into the many stereotypes perpetuated by the hollywood movie industry.
I viewed this film in an art class in community college for the first time. When I viewed the film, I viewed it from an artistic perspective. I did not view it from a cultural, gender identity, sexual orientation, or feminist perspective. Frida was intellectually advanced for her time. I will definitely view the film again and take into consideration the points that you have brought up. I enjoyed reading your review.
Hello Rocio,
After reading the review and comments, I realized that the film was more than a documentary about two artists who fall in love and have a non-traditional relationship. The documentary addressed many issues that are being dealt with currently in society; issues that are important to address and that in the Latino community are taboo. She was definitely intellectually advanced for her time. The film is not a typical film that has stereotypes and exploits our culture.
This film was more than just a movie, it was about real people who were very talented Mexican artists that practiced open marriage /relationships at a time when this was unacceptable. When I think of the implications of their actions, they had the courage to practice what they believed in regardless of the consequences. The people who played them are also Latino and it was funny that Hollywood chose a beautiful woman like Selma Hayek to play Frieda when some people would say she was not an attractive woman. I think it was done purposefully and intentionally to soften Frieda’s look to attract more people to see the film. This film does have the stereotype of Latino men being promiscuous or womanizers but in this case it was a true stereotype. Latina women are also known to stay with men longer than they should but that is also true of a lot of women in a variety of cultures. It was a great film of courage, stand for what you believe in, and it was an accurate depiction of these two people’s lives.