Running time: 122 minutes
Starring: Salma Hayek, Alfred Molina, Geoffrey Rush, Ashley Judd, Antonio Banderas
Rating 7 out of 10
The rumour mill has it that the idea to make Frida has been consuming many of Hollywood's top female stars for some time. Madonna and Jennifer Lopez were apparently engaged in a bidding war to get the biopic to the screen first, but Salma Hayek has beaten them all to it. With a bevy of writers (including Hayek's beau Edward Norton) in tow, alongside the acclaimed director Julie Taymor (Titus and the Broadway production of The Lion King), Hayek hasmanaged to pull off the unexpected: a pet project about an artist that doesn't suffer under its own self-importance (witness Ed Harris'Pollock) or indeed wallow in tedium (Surviving Picasso anyone?). Indeed, Frida is a qualified success for the Mexican actress who has also bagged a deserved Oscar nomination into the bargain.
Frida Kahlo was one of the most iconic and controversial artists of the twentieth century. Her life was changed by two things however: firstly a horrible bus accident as a teenager which left her impaled and in pretty much constant pain for the rest of her life, and secondly her involvement (and marriage) to Diego Rivera (Molina), Mexico's leading artist of the time.
The pain she suffered from the accident would never leave her, and indeed it would inspire most of her more celebrated paintings. She spent a great deal of her life in a cast, or forced to take bed rest, but she would always paint regardless of the pain she was in.
The marriage to Rivera was a topsy-turvy affair: both of them were ardent socialists, but both were liberal in their sexual behaviour. Rivera was a notorious womaniser, and Frida herself explored her bisexual side, including an affair with singer Josephine Baker as well as a torrid liaison with Leon Trotsky (Geoffrey Rush), whom the couple helped to hide before his eventual assassination in Mexico city.
Julie Taymor paints a colorful world for the artists to live in. Whether they were revolutionaries first and artists second is perhaps a moot point, but they certainly used their art to put across political messages (most famously Rivera's mural in the Rockefeller Centre in New York which featured a profile of Lenin). They were clearly fiercely committed people with tempestuous personal lives.
The film belongs to Hayek however. After spending a decade as little more than Hollywood eye-candy in some forgettable films, she has now comes of age in a role which she clearly enjoys living and breathing. Immersing herself completely in her character, she is utterly compelling and delivers easily the best performance of her career.
Frida Kahlo was one of the most iconic and controversial artists of the twentieth century. Her life was changed by two things however: firstly a horrible bus accident as a teenager which left her impaled and in pretty much constant pain for the rest of her life, and secondly her involvement (and marriage) to Diego Rivera (Molina), Mexico's leading artist of the time.
The pain she suffered from the accident would never leave her, and indeed it would inspire most of her more celebrated paintings. She spent a great deal of her life in a cast, or forced to take bed rest, but she would always paint regardless of the pain she was in.
The marriage to Rivera was a topsy-turvy affair: both of them were ardent socialists, but both were liberal in their sexual behaviour. Rivera was a notorious womaniser, and Frida herself explored her bisexual side, including an affair with singer Josephine Baker as well as a torrid liaison with Leon Trotsky (Geoffrey Rush), whom the couple helped to hide before his eventual assassination in Mexico city.
Julie Taymor paints a colorful world for the artists to live in. Whether they were revolutionaries first and artists second is perhaps a moot point, but they certainly used their art to put across political messages (most famously Rivera's mural in the Rockefeller Centre in New York which featured a profile of Lenin). They were clearly fiercely committed people with tempestuous personal lives.
The film belongs to Hayek however. After spending a decade as little more than Hollywood eye-candy in some forgettable films, she has now comes of age in a role which she clearly enjoys living and breathing. Immersing herself completely in her character, she is utterly compelling and delivers easily the best performance of her career.
