(Winner of the Queer Palm and Best Screenplay Prize to Celine Sciamma at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival)
Set towards the end of the 18th Century, the film revolves around a painter who is taken to a remote island in France to paint a portrait of a woman that is to be wedded only for the two to embark on a secretive relationship. It’s a film with a simple premise as it plays into the ideas of art and temptation as well as this sense of longing and sisterhood in a world where men often is at the control of fates. Celine Sciamma’s screenplay opens with the painter Marianne (Noemie Merlant) at an art school teaching her students as she talks about one of her famed paintings where the film’s title refers to her time at the island of Brittany where she’s asked to paint a portrait for a countess (Valeria Golino) whose daughter Heloise (Adele Haenel) is to be married to nobleman from Milan. Upon her arrival to the island, Marianne notices that Heloise is very resistant to marrying a man she doesn’t know as there’s a lot of revelations into why this marriage has been arranged and Marianne is another of a series of painters to come in and try to paint a portrait of Heloise. Marianne understands what happened in those many attempts while understanding Heloise’s own feelings about being painted and what she wants.
Sciamma’s direction is definitely entrancing as it play into this idea of what art is and what it means for someone including the person that is to be painted. Shot on location at Saint-Pierre-Quiberon at the island of Brittany as well as locations in the La Chapelle-Gauthier at Seine-et-Marne, Sciamma makes the locations a character in the film as it plays into this world of isolation as the island is remote while the rare moment of Marianne and Heloise going out of the chateau with the house maid Sophie (Luana Bajrami) where they would encounter a group of women at a bonfire. It is in that moment where Marianne would get the idea for her famed painting as the film goes into great detail into Marianne’s methods and how she sketches things and then turn it into a painting. The usage of close-ups into the way Marianne paints show Sciamma’s approach to who Marianne is as an artist that includes creating a small sketch of Heloise as the two begin their affair. Sciamma’s direction also has this unique approach to framing and compositions through the wide and medium shots as if she’s creating a painting on her own in where the characters are as well as a certain piece of furniture.
There are also these amazing shots during scenes in the beach involving Marianne, Heloise, and Sophie as they’re trying to find plants as it relates to a subplot of Sophie learning that she’s pregnant as it is a moment in the film that has these women bonding. Sciamma also showcases some straightforward compositions in the way she positions the camera to get coverage of her actors without doing a lot of movement in some scenes as well as maintain this air of intrigue into what is not being shown. Sciamma also creates this air of tension about the final painting of Heloise’s portrait as a lot of the painting is done by Helene Delmaire who also did all of the other paintings in the film as it says a lot of what Marianne is feeling. Even towards the end as it play into the inevitable but also an aftermath that returns to the film’s opening scene and what would follow as it relates to the ways of the world then and how its final shot of the film just says so much about the cruelty of the world. Overall, Sciamma crafts a ravishing and intoxicating film about a painter who falls for her subject in a woman who is reluctant to become a portrait for a man she doesn’t want to marry.
Cinematographer Claire Mathon does incredible work with the film’s lush and colorful cinematography as it is a highlight of the film in terms of the attention to detail of the landscapes with the way the beaches look as well as the cliffs along with the usage of candle lights for the interior scenes at night. Editor Julien Lacheray does brilliant work with the editing where it has a sense of rhythm to play into the drama as well as bits of humor while often knowing when to let a shot linger as it doesn’t aim for anything stylish. Production designer Thomas Grezaud does amazing work with the look of the chateau’s interiors as well as the look of the living room with its fireplace and the studio where Marianne creates Heloise’s portrait. Costume designer Dorothee Guiraud does excellent work with the costumes in the dresses from the dark-red dress that Marianne wears, the dark-blue/black dresses of Heloise and the countess wears, and the green dress that Heloise wears for her portrait.
Special effects supervisor Benoit Talenton, with visual effects supervisors Alain Carsoux and Jeremie Leroux, does terrific work with a few of the film’s special effects as it relates to an image that Marianne would see as it foreshadows the reality of what she has to deal with. The sound work of Julien Sicart, Valerie Deloof, and Daniel Sobrino is superb in capturing the atmosphere of the locations as well as the sound of heels walking on wooden floors as it adds to the film’s quiet yet hypnotic tone. The film’s music by Jean-Baptiste de Laubier and Arthur Simoni is fantastic as it only features one score piece during the bonfire scene of a group of women sing and clap as it is this haunting music piece that adds to the dramatic tension while the only other music piece in the film are variations of Summer from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons that appears twice.
The film’s casting by Christel Baras is wonderful as it feature some notable small appearances from Armande Boulanger as a student of Marianne in the film’s opening scene, Guy Delamarche as an art gallery enthusiast late in the film, and Clement Bouyssou as Heloise’s future husband late in the film. Valeria Golino is brilliant as the Countess as Heloise’s mother who hires Marianne for the job while being someone who understands her daughter’s reluctance but also is hopeful that her daughter will find happiness despite the tragedy they’ve both endured. Luana Bajrami is incredible as the housemaid Sophie as a young woman who becomes pregnant as she becomes this figure that helps Marianne and Heloise bond while assisting the former with the portrait as she proves to be a competent ally for both women.
Finally, there’s the duo of Noemie Merlant and Adele Haenel in phenomenal performances in their respective roles as Marianne and Heloise. Merlant brings a realism to a woman that has been in society while also understands what it takes to create great art as she feels challenged by Heloise as well as entranced by her while coping with what is inevitable. Haenel’s performance is restrained in her approach to melodrama as a woman that is expressing her anger and sadness in the role she is to play yet Haenel also provides this aura that adds to her complexity as a woman that is afraid to reveal her true identity. Merlant and Haenel together are just exquisite to watch in the way they play off each other and then express their own longing for one another as they are a massive highlight to the film.
***Additional Content Written from 6/30/22-7/3/22***
The 2020 Region 1/Region A DVD/Blu-Ray release from the Criterion Collection presents the film in its original 1:85:1 aspect ratio in a 4K video presentation with 5.1 Surround Sound on DVD (uncompressed on Blu-Ray). Among the special features presented for its release include a thirty-two minute conversation between filmmaker Celine Sciamma and film critic Dana Stevens where they discuss the film and how it is Sciamma’s first period-piece film following a trio of films set on modern times as part of a thematic trilogy. Sciamma talked about wanting to do something different but also with a bit of political themes as it relates to those times. Sciamma and Stevens also talked about some of the visuals where Sciamma also infused a few modern ideas in terms of its visuals while also discussing some specific ideas she wanted. In regards to the casting as Sciamma wanting to work with people she had never did a film with other than regular collaborator Adele Haenel as she was excited to work with Valeria Golino as they both talked about their own ideas of directing since Golino is also a filmmaker.
Sciamma also talks about her approach as well as how to move the camera for tracking shots where she has specific ideas as if she’s a music composer in how many steps a character should walk and where to position an actor in a frame. Even in the music soundtrack as she didn’t want to have a lot of music except in a few specific scenes including its ending and the bonfire scene. Sciamma also talks about the abortion scene as well as how the film reference the story of Orpheus and Eurydice as it relates to the story between Marianne and Heloise. The 18-minute interview with lead actors Adele Haenel and Noemie Merlant has the two talk about the film and their characters with the former talking about her collaboration with Sciamma going back to 2007’s Water Lilies as Haenel also talks about just discovering her character through the script and not approach things expected in a period film. Merlant is new to Sciamma as she auditioned for Sciamma as she also talked about her views on her character. Both actresses talk about the sex scene and its intention as well as straying from the conventions of what sex scenes are meant to do.
The 18-minute interview with cinematographer Claire Mathon at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival has the photographer talk about her approach to the cinematography as well as her collaboration with Sciamma as they did a lot in trying to understand the visual approach to the film. Even in the way to film paintings and capture the richness as the film was shot on 4K digital where Mathon also talks about her approach to lighting and how she had shoot natural light without having to use filters or electric light. Notably in scenes involving candles and using certain lenses to get a distinctive look for the film. The 12-minute 2019 interview with artist Helene Delmaire who was discovered by Sciamma as Delmaire is an artist in her own right and had an understanding of what Sciamma wanted but also know the flaws in copying old paintings from the past. Delmaire talks about her own methods into the painting of the film but also in how color would shape things as well as other little things that go into making a painting. Even in paints that are unable to be used for public health reason yet Delmaire was given access to use them aware of its dangers as she’s been able to use it safely in her own work. In the filming, Sciamma and Mathon had to shoot 27 minutes for one entire session with Delmaire wearing a costume as Merlant’s double.
Also including in the DVD/Blu-Ray set is a booklet that features an essay from Lyssaria website director, film critic/curator Ela Bittencourt entitled Portrait of a Lady on Fire: Daring to See. Bittencourt talks about the film’s plot but also some of its social and gender politics as it is set in the late 18th Century in France at a time when women don’t have much of a role to play. The character of Marianne is this representation of a woman who kind of does thing on her own and her arrival at this house to paint Heloise’s portrait. Bittencourt also talk about how the film fits in with Sciamma’s previous films in terms of its thematic study of the female gaze and female identity as well as the sense of sisterhood between Marianne, Heloise, and Sophie once Heloise’s mother leaves the house for a bit as there’s also this equality that is considered taboo considering the different social classes they’re in. There’s also a lot of references to Orpheus and Eurydice both in Marianne and Heloise’s love story but also as a book that is read throughout the film including a painting by Marianne under her father’s name shown late in the film as the essay is a great piece of text that talks about the film’s brilliance.
***End of DVD/Blu-Ray Tidbits***
Portrait de la jeune fille en feu is a magnificent film from Celine Sciamma. Featuring a phenomenal ensemble cast, ravishing visuals, a gripping and entrancing screenplay, incredible art direction and paintings, and a haunting music soundtrack piece. The film is definitely an evocative and wondrous film that explore a woman tasked to create a portrait of a woman that doesn’t want to marry as it play into many taboos but also a need to create art, sisterhood, and companionship in a world that refuses to change its way. In the end, Portrait de la jeune fille en feu is an outstanding film from Celine Sciamma.
Celine Sciamma Films: (Water Lillies) – (Tomboy (2011 film)) – Girlhood - Petite Maman
© thevoid99 2021
Directed by John Carpenter and screenplay by Carpenter, Debra Hill, and Kurt Russell from characters by Carpenter and Nick Castle, Escape from L.A. is a sequel to the 1981 film Escape from New York in which Snake Plissken is asked by the President and the U.S. government to save the President’s daughter who had hijacked a plane to Los Angeles as she gives a weapon to a rebel leader. The film is another exploration into dystopian America where Los Angeles is separated by the U.S. due to an earthquake as Kurt Russell reprises his role as Snake Plissken. Also starring Steve Buscemi, Stacy Keach, Cliff Robertson, Georges Corraface, Michelle Forbes, Valeria Golino, Bruce Campbell, A.J. Langer, Pam Grier, and Peter Fonda. Escape from L.A. for all of its action and thrills is really just a lazy and uninspiring film from John Carpenter.
Set in 2013 just 13 years after an earthquake had destroyed much of Los Angeles and separated itself from the U.S., the film revolves around Snake Plissken being asked by the President (Cliff Robertson) to retrieve a black box carrying a weapon that can save the country from evil forces as the box had been taken by his daughter Utopia (A.J. Langer). Plissken reluctantly takes the mission due to a virus he is carrying as he has less than 10 hours to retrieve the black box as well as deal with a rebel leader who wants to take down the U.S. and its President. In some ways, it’s really the same narrative of the first film made 15 years earlier but with a different set of rules, villains, and people as the only thing that hasn’t changed is Snake Plissken himself. It’s just that the world Snake Plissken is in is a very weird one and affirmation that he really has no place in the future whether it’s in America or the rest of the world.
The film’s screenplay does play into a traditional structure where much of the first act is exposition in which plays into what happened to America since the events of the previous and what Plissken needs to do. The second act is about Plissken arriving in Los Angeles as he meets an assortment of crazed characters including a tour guide named Eddie (Steve Buscemi), a woman named Taslima (Valeria Golino) who was deported to L.A. because she was a Muslim, a transgender outlaw named Hershe (Pam Grier), and an aging surfer named Pipeline (Peter Fonda). Some of which are either affiliated with the terrorist leader Cuervo Jones (George Corraface) or against him. Yet, many of these characters really just caricatures where some just offer exposition or others are just there for laughs as it never really meshes or do anything to drive the story. Even as everyone knows that the President and his cronies are also villains because of what he wants to do and the bullshit morality that he stands for which doesn’t really make the story very engaging.
John Carpenter’s direction does have its moments in some of the action scenes and how he re-creates Los Angeles as paradise in Hell. Even as it does have some satire in the way the world is along with bits of commentary about a third-world revolution going up against the superpower that is America. Unfortunately, the script’s unwillingness to really do so much more really bogs the film down as Carpenter had to rely on humor to get some things going where it doesn’t really mesh with who Snake Plissken is. Even as there’s a lot of reliance on visual effects that don’t look great or finished as well as moments where it tries to be outrageous but ends up being very dumb. Carpenter’s approach to compositions are still potent in his approach to close-ups and medium shots but there’s scenes that don’t look good such as seeing Plissken surfing nearby or a scene where Plissken has to play basketball to survive. It’s not what he’s about as it doesn’t have the element of suspense nor any stakes that are bigger as it’s ending sort of mirrors the one in the previous film. Overall, Carpenter makes a very messy and dull film about a guy trying to retrieve a black box for some asshole dictator he doesn’t even like.
Cinematographer Gary B. Kibbe does nice work with the cinematography as much of the film was set at night where it features some unique lighting for some of the action scenes as well as play up to the look of Los Angeles. Editor Edward A. Warschilka does some fine work with the editing though it deviates from many of the conventional fast-paced cutting style that is derivative of most action films. Production designer Lawrence G. Paull, with set decorator Kathe Klopp and art director Bruce Crone, does superb work with the set design from the look of the city as well as some of the landmarks of the cities in their post-earthquake look. Costume designer Robin Michel Blush does excellent work with the costumes from the Che Guevara-inspired look of Cuervo Jones to look of the many characters that Plissken encounters in the film.
Special effects makeup designer Rick Baker does some brilliant work with the design of some of the freaks that appear in Los Angeles including those who took too much plastic surgery. Visual effects supervisors Michael Lessa and Kimberly Nelson LoCasio do terrible work with the visual effects where it looks like early 90s computer animation where things look wobbly and some of it looked unfinished as it is among one of the lowlights of the film. Sound editor John Dunn and sound designer John Pospisil do fantastic work with the sound to play up some of the sound effects and layers of sound in some of the action scenes. The film’s music by John Carpenter and Shirley Walker is alright for its mixture of electronics and rock with bits of blues to play into that sense of the old-school that Plissken is fond for while its soundtrack is a mixture of metal, alt-rock, and industrial from acts like Gravity Kills, Tool, White Zombie, Tori Amos, Sugar Ray, the Toadies, Ministry, Butthole Surfers, Stabbing Westward, Clutch, and the Deftones.
The casting by Carrie Frazier is amazing though many of the appearances of such noted cult actors like Pam Grier as an old friend of Plissken in a transgender fighter named Hershe, Bruce Campbell as a weird-looking plastic surgeon from Beverly Hills, Jeff Imada as a gang member, Robert Carradine as a skinhead, Paul Bartel as a congressman, and Leland Orser as an associate of Cuervo as they’re kind of given nothing to do as does Valeria Golino as a woman who helps Plissken to find locations in Los Angeles, Breckin Meyer as a young surfer, Michelle Forbes as an assistant chief to the police force, Stacy Keach as Commander Malloy, and Peter Fonda as the aging surfer Pipeline as they’re just used to appear and don’t do much. A.J. Langer is horrible as the President’s daughter Utopia as she doesn’t really do much for the story nor give any reason to save her as the President himself is indifferent about her. Georges Corraface is alright as Cuervo Jones as this rebel leader who wants to destroy the American dictatorship yet is also just as bad as the President.
Cliff Robertson is pretty good as the President as a man of morality who wants to clean up the country but is also quite ruthless in maintaining his rule as he is given a lifetime term. Steve Buscemi is fantastic as a tour guide named Eddie who is kind of a sleazy guy that is in it for himself and whoever that can give him money where he is the only guy that is able to bring some humor to the film. Finally, there’s Kurt Russell in a brilliant performance as Snake Plissken as this renegade soldier who is forced to take part in a mission to retrieve a weapon in a black box as he copes with illness and other things in a world he doesn’t relate to as Russell is the only thing in the film that works.
While it features a strong performance from Kurt Russell and some exciting action scenes, Escape from L.A. is just a very disappointing and lazy film from John Carpenter. It’s a film that tries to update its predecessor for the 90s but doesn’t do enough to stand out from the original while it is hampered by some bad humor and awful visual effects. In the end, Escape from L.A. is just a bad film from John Carpenter.
John Carpenter Films: Dark Star - Assault on Precinct 13 - Halloween - Someone’s Watching Me! - Elvis - The Fog - Escape from New York - The Thing - Christine - Starman - Big Trouble in Little China - Prince of Darkness - They Live - Memoirs of an Invisible Man - Body Bags - In the Mouth of Madness - Village of the Damned - Vampires - Ghosts of Mars - The Ward
The Auteurs #60: John Carpenter Pt. 1 - Pt. 2
© thevoid99 2015
Based on the biography Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo by Hayden Herrera, Frida is a story about life of the surrealist Mexican painter and her relationship with the painter Diego Rivera that would span for many years through ups and downs. Directed by Julie Taymor and screenplay by Clancy Sigal, Diane Lake, Gregory Nava, and Anna Thomas, the film is an unconventional take on Kahlo’s life from the accident she suffered at the 18 that would plague her for the rest of her life to the people she would meet in her lifetime. Playing Kahlo is Salma Hayek while Alfred Molina would play her husband in Diego Rivera. Also starring Geoffrey Rush, Valeria Golino, Ashley Judd, Mia Maestro, Roger Rees, Diego Luna, Edward Norton, and Antonio Banderas. Frida is a lavish yet extraordinary film from Julie Taymor.
The film is an offbeat and surrealistic telling of the life of Frida Kahlo from the year she would be severely injured from a bus accident in 1922 that would plague her for the rest of her life to her final year of her life in 1954. During this time, she would meet the mural artist Diego Rivera whom she would be married to in 1929 and later remarry in 1940 after a one-year divorce where their marriage was a dysfunctional one due to his flings with other women and her bisexuality. It’s a film that plays more into the art of Kahlo and the events of her life that would drive her art as she would be appreciated as well as reviled for her art as well as views on politics due to her affiliation with Marxism as she would meet and have an affair with Leon Trotsky (Geoffrey Rush).
Since Kahlo’s life was never a conventional one, a straight-forward bio-pic on the artist wouldn’t work as there’s so much to cover as the film’s screenplay sort of deviates from that schematics to play into moments of her life and relationship with Rivera. The first act of the story plays into the accident and Kahlo’s meeting with Rivera whom he would take Kahlo as a protégé only to become his new lover and wife in 1929. Yet, their relationship is a complicated one since Kahlo knows that Rivera likes to sleep with other women which Kahlo does begrudgingly accept since she is also promiscuous. Still, it would eventually cause trouble along with their own political affiliation with Marxism is put to the test in the film’s second act when Rivera is asked by Nelson Rockefeller (Edward Norton) to paint a mural at the Rockefeller Center which would get destroyed due to Rivera’s anti-capitalist views. A move that would leave Rivera returning to Mexico with his pride and ego wounded as his actions would cause a schism between him and Kahlo.
Despite all of the trials and tribulations that Kahlo and Rivera has, the latter is still loyal to the former despite his actions as he would support her from afar just as she would gain fame of her own. It plays into what Kahlo wants as an artist but all of the trappings of fame becomes fleeting where she later gets in trouble over her encounters with Trotsky which would prompt Rivera to come back to her life. Especially as her health would decline in the film’s third act where Rivera is willing to do whatever to get her back and be there for her.
Julie Taymor’s direction definitely plays to much of the surrealistic images that Kahlo creates in her paintings where it is filled with a sense of style as well as an extravagance that is off the wall. Especially as Taymor is playing to a sense of style which feels true to the world that Khalo lives in as she would shoot the film on location in Mexico in order to make the country as a character in the film that would influence Kahlo’s own work. Some of the paintings in the film that are Kahlo’s or re-creation of Kahlo’s work help tell the story into the events that would shape her life including own injury and her marriage as it’s expressed through her own art. Most notably the sequence of the bus accident that would be the cause of Kahlo’s life-suffering injury as it’s presented with an air of style from where the camera is at and the impact of its crash where it mirrors the painting that Kahlo would make later on in her life.
The direction also includes some unique elements of surrealism and humor such as a sequences where Kahlo and Rivera would each play into their own vices as well as the former’s interpretation of the latter’s taste for fame which includes a scene where she imagines Rivera as King Kong. Much of the direction includes some unique compositions in the simple and intimate moments where Taymor knows where to frame Kahlo as if she is recreating one of Kahlo’s paintings where its usage of close-ups and medium shots add to that sense of style. Even the use of wide shots in the scenes at Tenochtitlan at the pyramids where Kahlo shows Trotsky the sites as it displays Mexico at its most beautiful. Even in how Kahlo would view the country as her home which is exactly who she is no matter all of the riches and acclaim she would receive everywhere else. Overall, Taymor creates a very majestic and rapturous film about the life of one of the greatest painters in the 20th Century.
Cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto does amazing work with the film‘s dazzling and colorful cinematography for many of the film‘s exterior settings in the day while using some unique dark shadings and lighting schemes for some of the film‘s daytime and nighttime interior scenes. Editor Francoise Bonnot does fantastic work with the editing as it‘s very stylish with its usage of jump-cuts, montages, and dissolves as it plays into the frenetic energy of Kahlo‘s art as well as in some of the dramatic moments in the film. Production designer Felipe Fernandez del Paso, with set decorator Hania Robledo and art director Bernardo Trujillo, does brilliant work with the look of the Kahlo family home where Frida lived with her family as well as the Rivera studio and other places in Mexico as well as the look of the New York City apartment where Rivera and Kahlo lived during Rivera‘s period working for Rockefeller.
Costume designer Julie Weiss does excellent work with the costumes to play into the look of the times as well as the clothes that Rivera wore as well as the dresses and suits that Kahlo would wear. Makeup artist Judy Chin and hairstylist Beatrice De Alba, with prosthetic makeup designer John E. Jackson, do incredible work with the makeup from the look of the unibrow of Kahlo‘s face as well as into the aging makeup of the characters throughout the years. Visual effects supervisors Jeremy Dawson and Dan Schrecker do superb work with the visual effects to play into the surreal look of Kahlo‘s paintings as they would come to life along with some strange sequences including a hospital scene that is full of macabre animation by Stephen and Timothy Quay. Sound designer Blake Leyh does terrific work with the film‘s sound to play into the atmosphere of some of the locations including the very chilling moment in the bus accident scene. The film’s music by Elliot Goldenthal is wonderful for its mixture of lush orchestral music with traditional Mexican music to play into the drama of the film while music supervisors Sarah Botstein and Kathy Nelson bring in a soundtrack filled with jazz and traditional Mexican music of those times.
The film’s marvelous cast includes some notable small appearances from Saffron Burrows as a British woman Kahlo seduces in New York City, Lila Downs as a tango singer at a party, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez as the surrealist Andre Breton, Diego Luna as a schoolmate of the young Kahlo in Alex, Patricia Reyes Spindola as Kahlo’s mother, and Valeria Golino as Rivera’s second wife Lupe Marin whom Kahlo would befriend and paint a portrait of her. Antonio Banderas is terrific in a small role as the artist David Alfaro Siqueiros whom Rivera would argue with over politics while Ashley Judd is wonderful as the Italian photographer/artist Tina Modotti. Roger Rees is superb as Kahlo’s father Guillermo is also an artist as he copes with the injury that his daughter suffered while encouraging her to become an artist. Mia Maestro is excellent as Kahlo’s loyal sister Cristina who would later become Rivera’s assistant as it would later cause trouble.
Edward Norton is fantastic as Nelson Rockefeller who asks Rivera to make a mural at the Rockefeller Center until he sees whom Rivera would put in the mural. Geoffrey Rush is brilliant as Leon Trotsky as the Marxist revolutionary who is granted political asylum in Mexico as he befriends Rivera and Kahlo while having an affair with Kahlo. Alfred Molina is amazing as Diego Rivera as this mural painter who is large both in look and in personality as he’s an artist that is big on ideas while displaying Marxist ideals to help the people yet is a total contradiction since he also likes to party with the rich and famous as Molina showcases a man that is flawed yet full of charm and humility. Finally, there’s Salma Hayek in an incredible performance as the titular character as she displays not just charm but also a person that is willing to make a name for herself on her own terms while displaying a sense of individuality as it’s definitely Hayek at her most lively in terms of humor and drama.
Frida is a phenomenal film from Julie Taymor that features a remarkable performance from Salma Hayek in the titular role. Along with a very strong supporting performance from Alfred Molina as well as a great look and an offbeat yet engaging script. It’s a film that doesn’t just tell the story of a great artist but also a person who deals with all of the trappings of fame as she is willing to not make compromises on who she is or where she came from. In the end, Frida is a dazzling film from Julie Taymor.
Julie Taymor Films: Titus (1999 film) - Across the Universe - The Tempest - The Auteurs #42: Julie Taymor
© thevoid99 2015
