Kiss of the Spider Woman: Héctor Babenco

I'll be perfectly honest: the main reason why I didn't like Héctor Babenco's Kiss of the Spider Woman was that I didn't quite understand it. The film was based on Argentine writer Manuel Puig's novel of the same name, a work which challenged several literary norms through the use of experimental techniques. Babenco's adaptation maintains a similar uneasy feeling that fills the audience with an uncertain feeling that something about the film is a bit...off. The nuts and bolts of the story concern two cellmates in an Argentinian prison. The first, Valentin Arregui (Raúl Juliá), is a political prisoner. The second, Luis Molina (William Hurt), is a flamboyant homosexual who was imprisoned for sleeping with an underage boy. Molina has been secretly employed by the police to befriend Arregui and coax him into revealing the locations of his revolutionary cell's members in exchange for prison parole. Of course, we don't learn that until about a third of the way into the film. Instead, we are treated to the early budding of Molina and Arregui's friendship. Molina attempts to gain Arregui's trust (and help himself cope with his situation) by vividly recounting scenes from his favorite film, Her Real Glory, a piece of Nazi propaganda during World War Two. And here is where Kiss of the Spider Woman lost me. The first part of it is primarily composed of Molina's cinematic flashbacks. Only gradually do we learn about the two prisoners' backgrounds and reasons for being incarcerated. It uncomfortably evolves from a wistful fantasy into a pounding political thriller. Raúl Juliá shines as Arregui. Viewers who are only familiar with Juliá's tenure as Gomez Addams will be shocked by his earnest and devastatingly honest performance. And then...there's William Hurt. Frequent readers of my Mini Reviews will recall that I take issue with Hurt's "acting style." But here, Hurt's performance is absolutely ridiculous. His portrayal of Molina feels like a flamboyant gay man impersonating an uptight straight man impersonating a flamboyant gay man. And, of course, just like in my recently reviewed Reversal of Fortune, the odd, out-of-place performance wins the international acclaim (in this case the Academy Award for Best Actor) while the steadfast, captivating performance by the other notable actor is critically snubbed. Kiss of the Spider Woman is an unusual film that I suspect only garnered the level of praise that it did in international film circles due to its confrontation and depiction of homosexual themes and issues. But for the modern viewer, that simply isn't enough.

6/10