Kiss of the Spider Woman-1985

Director Hector Babenco

Starring William Hurt, Raul Julia

Scott’s Review #187

Reviewed October 24, 2014

Grade: B+

1985 wasn’t the best year for film, nor was much of the 1980s, but there are unique standouts, and Kiss of the Spider Woman is an unusual, artistic film.

Set in present-day South America (Brazil), two men are imprisoned for very different reasons and become cellmates.

Complete opposites, they form an unlikely bond rooted in friendship but also flirting with romance and, at times, love.

Luis Molina is outwardly homosexual and extremely flamboyant and perhaps out of touch with reality as he fantasizes and describes romantic Nazi films.

He is imprisoned not only for being homosexual but also for having sex with an underage male.

The other man, Valentin Arregui, is a liberal political activist who has been beaten, tortured, and interrogated due to his revolutionary-leaning politics. He has a rough, macho edge.

On the surface, the two men have nothing in common, but their proximity leads them to forge a close bond and mutual respect as they explain their pre-imprisonment lives to each other and to the audience.

The film’s true strength is William Hurt’s performance, very much against type, the best of his career by a mile. He fully embodies Luis’s effeminacy, yearning, pain, and obsession with escaping reality through film.

Raul Julia has the same effect, though in a completely different way, in his portrayal of Valentin.

Luis tenderly comforts Valentin, who is poisoned by prison officials who incorporate his stories of films into Valentin’s real life, as he yearns for his separated lover, Marta.

As Luis falls in love with Valentin, and one seems to double-cross the other, they face a test of courage and dedication to each other.

The ending of the film is a sad one, dark, yet thought-provoking, and shows love, tenderness, and bravery.

My only negative about Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985) is that, at times, the flashback structure and Luis’s narration make it hard to follow exactly what is going on.

Still, Hurt and Julia’s performances, and the chemistry between them, are the film’s major strengths.

Oscar Nominations: 1 win-Best Picture, Best Director-Hector Babenco, Best Actor-William Hurt (won), Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium

Golden Globe Nominations: Best Picture-Drama, Best Actor-Drama-William Hurt, Raul Julia, Best Supporting Actress-Sônia Braga

Independent Spirit Award Nominations: 1 win-Best International Film (won)