Review of Frida (2002) by Abi V — 23 Apr 2011

As a young schoolgirl from a middle-class family in Mexico City, Frida Kahlo (Salma Hayek) survives a terrible traffic accident, and begins to draw and paint while slowly recovering. She seeks out muralist Diego Rivera (Alfred Molina) and joins him in art and politics, and soon thereafter in love and marriage. He paints and has affairs, she paints and has affairs. She gets pregnant and then miscarries. Her mother grows ill and dies. Frida paints her pain. The pair go to New York, they raise a ruckus, they go broke, they return to Mexico. Diego has an affair with Frida's sister, Frida leaves and cuts her hair and paints her new self. Leon Trotsky (Geoffrey Rush) comes to stay with them in exile, Frida has an affair with him. Frida goes to a show in Paris, an assassination of Trotsky is attempted and then succeeds. Diego and Frida reconcile, Frida's health fails, she attends her Mexican exhibition in her bed, and she dies.

Julie Taymor is pretentious, and has proven repeatedly that she is better suited to music videos and stage plays than to feature films. She makes this biography of Frida slow and aimlessly wandering. It is a true feat that a story can be so chronological and detail-filled and yet give no real overarching picture of the person being featured, nor keep the audience's interest. Ashley Judd's Mexican accent is only slightly better than Geoffrey Rush's Russian accent, despite the best attempts of both.

Overall, a long, dull account of the life of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo, with pretentious directing, an uninspired script, and acting that should have been better, given the cast.