Kiss of the Spider Woman – 1985
I am pretty familiar with the musical, Kiss of the Spider Woman. It has the same basic plot of the movie, but most of the details are different. The ending was different. About half the character motivations were different, and the narrative structure was different. Both the movie and the musical were good in their own ways, but I must say, I prefer the musical. But this is not a review of the musical. This is about the movie and its merits.
The plot is pretty basic, and it is a good story which is original and engaging. It takes place in Brazil during the Brazilian Military Government. Molina, played by William Hurt, is an effeminate homosexual who is in prison for molesting a minor. He is paired with a cell-mate who is a member of a leftist revolutionary group. He is named Valentin, and is played by Raul Julia. The military police want to use Valentin to root out his fellow revolutionists.
The police promise Molina his parole if he gets Valentin to talk and reveal his contacts. Molina treats him with kindness, helping him through his recovery from being tortured, and tries to gain his confidence. But Valentin will not talk. In a final effort to get the information, Molina tells Valentin that he is getting his parole. He also reveals that he has fallen in love with him. In response to Molina’s constant kindnesses, Valentin responds by making love to him, but only with the hope that Molina will deliver a message to the revolutionists when he gets out. The film ends with Molina attempting to deliver the message, though he is being watched by the police. A gunfight ensues in which Molina is shot and killed. Valentin’s torture resumes. The end.
But then, where does the film’s title come in? Well, while in prison, the two men pass the time and grow closer as, over time, Molina tells Valentin of a romantic Nazi propaganda film that he loved. The star of the film is a beautiful woman, named Leni Lamaison, played by Sonia Braga, who happened to be the same actress playing Valentin’s love interest, Marta. During a time when Valentine is suffering from the effects of a terrible poison, Molina spins the tale of a beautiful woman, also played by Braga, who is trapped in her own spider webs on a tropical Island. A man is shipwrecked on her island and she nurses him back to health. The musical did a great job of explaining the Spider Woman, but not the movie. I felt that in the film, she was a bit of a non-sequitur. She seemed to show up without a good reason, and once her brief scene was over, she was never seen again.
But Hurt and Julia did a great job. The two rolls required the actors to delve deeply into their emotional pools and really connect with their characters. William Hurt got in touch with his feminine side and turned in a performance that was believable and not a gay caricature. He was perfect for the part, and won the Best Actor award for his efforts. But Raul Julia was completely able to keep up with the flamboyance of his co-star. He was tough and strong, masculine, and passionate about his involvement with the revolution. But he also showed a completely different side when he seduced Molina to get him involved in his cause.
And I think that a part of his character actually did fall in love with Molina, at least a little bit. No, he didn’t turn gay. His intimacy with the man had a very specific agenda. And in the film’s final scene, after he is tortured and given morphine, he sleeps and dreams of being led out of the jail by Marta. She takes him to the tropical island from Molina’s strange tale. But instead of encountering the Spider Woman, the two of them get in a row-boat and float away into the sunset.
The director, Hector Babenco, was able to tell two stories at the same time, the story of Molina and Valentin, and the story of the Nazi film with Leni Lamaison. The narrative cut back and forth between them with ease. Not only did the two plots take place in different eras, but the propaganda film used a kind of sepia tone filter to further differentiate it from the events of the main plot. The movie was good enough, but if you like it, I suggest you find a way to see the musical. For one thing, several of the beautiful actress’s movies are used, the Spider Woman being the only one of her film characters who frightens Molina. And the different ending was a hundred times more powerful, in which the police try to use Valentin’s feelings for Molina to get him to talk, and they assassinate Molina in front of him.