Chichester Cinema at New Park
FRIDA
The later American version attempts a clearer and more direct narrative of the painter’s life and work with arresting and inventive visuals.
This Julie Taymor / Salma Hayek film (disapproved of in Mexico) had a completely different agenda - to present Frida to a large audience, most of whom were expected to know little or nothing about her or the Surrealist movement to which her work is related, to say nothing of the Marxist socio-political circles in which she moved. Salma Hayek, with her fierce performance in this sumptuous film, plays the Mexican surrealist painter Frida Kahlo, whose tempestuous life with her unfaithful husband, muralist Diego Rivera (Alfred Molina), drives the story of ‘Frida’.
Maverick director Julie Taymor pulls out a wealth of gorgeous visuals to capture everything from the horrific bus accident that damaged Kahlo's spine to her and Rivera's trip to New York City, where Rivera's political leanings ruptured a commission from the Rockefeller family, Taymor's dynamic energy and Kahlo's forceful personality give ‘Frida’ genuine emotional impact. The superb cast includes Roger Rees, Valeria Golino, Ashley Judd, Geoffrey Rush, Antonio Banderas, and Edward Norton.
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USA · 2002 · Julia Taymor · 117min
