Last night’s movie actually made me add one to my bloglist. Frida, 2002, Miramax. It’s a fascinating, colourful, powerful, portrayal of the life of Mexican artiste Frida Kahlo which keeps the emotional fury at a minimum for such an emotionally loaded subject. It stars Alfred Molina (you’d know him if you saw him), Ashley Judd and Salma Hayek (as Frida). She was in Spanglish that I blogged about last week. Oh yeah… and Antonio Banderas is in it too (and if that don’t make you watch it…)Me, “You should watch this hon, it says it has.scenes of nudity and coarse language”.
Hubby, “It’ll just be men’s bare bottoms, I don’t think I’ll bother”
Cut to naked woman, “Or maybe I will”.
Eventually he left because he wanted a bath (recognized a chick-flick when he saw one).
I was amazed – for Canada. They took all the F* words out but the nudity was… well, she had revolutionary sexual tendancies for her era and they managed not to cut them. She also had an affair with Trotsky before he was murdered (and if that doesn’t get me some hits on American Government agency investigative beaureaus I don’t know what will).
The basics are, as a girl she is in a crash which crushes her foot and damages her spine. She’s committed to bed for years of her teenage life where she starts to paint. She seeks the opinion of a womanizing artist who she eventually marries and becomes embroiled in his Communist politics. He sleeps around to stupid extremes. Sleeping with her sister finally breaks up their relationship at which point she gets her own back when her family puts up Trotsky during his exile and she sleeps with him under her ex-husband’s nose.
Eventually the love of her life returns, after one year seeking her forgiveness. She continues working from her bed as her back gives in to life. I won’t ruin the ending but it’s happy. Though everybody dies in the end, her death isn’t a sad ending that will leave you in tears. Just proud to be human.
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Nah, for hits you'd have to have said she had an affair with Trotsky *after* he was murdered... revolutionary tendencies and necrophilia - it's got to be a winner!