Frida
Categories: Drama film stubs | 2002 films | Biographical films | Best Actress Oscar Nominee (film) | Best Song Oscar Nominee | Drama films | Films shot in Mexico
Frida is a 2002 film which depicts the life of the artist Frida Kahlo. It portrays the tortured personal life of the Mexican artist. It stars Salma Hayek and Alfred Molina.
The movie was adapted by Clancy Sigal, Diane Lake, Gregory Nava, Anna Thomas and Edward Norton (uncredited) from the book Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo by Hayden Herrera. It was directed by Julie Taymor while the soundtrack was written by Elliot Goldenthal.
Some of the paintings attributed to Kahlo in the film were actually painted by Salma Hayek.
Frida includes the childhood trolley accident in which Frida suffers severe injury. Her initial stages of recovery at the hospital are depicted through a nighmarish stop motion animation sequence created by the Brothers Quay. Her father brings her a canvas from which to start painting while she is lying in hospital and cannot move. She goes on to do many more paintings. A few times the film shows a scene as a painting, then slowly dissolves into a real scene with actors. Frida also details the artist's on-again-off-again relationship with artist Diego Rivera, especially her anger at his infidelity and her love for him nevertheless. Diego's assessment of her painting ability is one of the reasons that she continues to paint. The two travel to New York in the film so that Diego can paint a mural at Rockefeller plaza in New York, but he refuses to compromise on the composition of the work and it is destroyed, leading to their return to Mexico. The relationship between her suffering and her art is explored.
Tagline: Prepare to be seduced
Awards
It won Academy Awards for Best Makeup and Best Music, Original Score. It was nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Hayek), Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Best Costume Design and Best Music, Original Song (Elliot Goldenthal and Julie Taymor for "Burn It Blue").
Cast
- Alejandro Usigli - Professor
- Alfred Molina - Diego Rivera
- Amelia Zapata - Maid
- Ashley Judd - Tina Modotti
- Diego Luna - Alejandro Gonzalez Arias
- Fermín Martínez - Painter on Bus
- Geoffrey Rush - Leon Trotsky
- Loló Navarro - Nanny
- Lucia Bravo - Auditorium Model
- Margarita Sanz - Natalia Trotsky
- Mía Maestro - Cristina Kahlo
- Patricia Reyes Spíndola - Matilde Kahlo
- Roger Rees - Guillermo Kahlo
- Salma Hayek - Frida Kahlo
- Valeria Golino - Lupe Marín
- Felipe Fulop - Jean van Heijenoort
- Edward Norton - Nelson Rockefeller