Left Field Cinema

Directed by Hector Babenco, and adapted for the screen by Leonard Schrader. This 1985 released film starring William Hurt and Raul Julia as cell mates in an unnamed South American country went on to be nominated in the 1986 Academy Awards for Best Screenplay adapted from another medium, Best Director, and Best Picture. Despite losing in these three categories to the late Sydney Pollock’s Out of Africa, Hurt won the Oscar for his portrayal of Luis Molina a transvestite imprisoned for having sex with a minor.

Considering how highly revered the film was upon release it is surprising to see how far fallen into obscurity in the past twenty-three years. It’s currently unavailable on Region 2 DVD, and the number of votes for the other Best Picture nominees from that year is also quite telling; currently it has 3703 votes, its nearest rival is Prizzi’s Honour is more than double at 7892; and no where close to Peter Weir’s Witness at 23,788.

Kiss of the Spider Woman is a particularly theatrical film. That’s not to imply theatrical acting, larger than life pronouncements, or stagy set design. This observation is merely in relation to the spatial confines of the film. The vast majority of which is played within the single cell the two leads share. The set up is cunningly simple, Julia plays Valentin, a journalist turned political prisoner who shares a cell with Molina. An activist and a paedophile sets up an unusual and thoroughly engaging odd couple, their worlds are pole apart, one has a cause, the other has a compulsion, one has drive and determination, the other is stifled and stagnant. Their shifting relationship develops over the course of the films narrative, and moves from friendship to something far deeper, but there is a sinister twist in the tale as it is revealed that Molina has been recruited by the prison authorities to gently extract information from Valentin about the group of rebels he works for. Torture doesn’t work on Valentin and so if they can’t violently get that they want then they must perform an act of subterfuge with Molina as the unwitting instrument of choice. The treacherous nature of the plot helps to ratchet up the tension as Babenco exploits the potentially lethal scenario. Molina is a truly confused and conflicted man who on the one hand craves his early release and through weakness has agreed to betray his friend but on the other hand is deeply affectionate to Valentin and may even love the man. His task and his emotions are completely in conflict and end result of both form a dichotomy. Molina can’t have both resolutions; it’s either one of the other, the ends are mutually exclusive.

The story isn’t totally confined to the one room; there are a few brief scenes with the warden and other inmates. Also more importantly the film flashes back to the former lives of Molina and Valentin giving us an insight into their world outside the tight confines of the prison walls. As well as these peaks into the past we are also presented a bizarre parallel story, Molina recounts a film which he once saw years earlier to help pass the time. The film is a Nazi propaganda movie as Valentin realises to his disgust as Molina’s descriptions become more vivid. The film is presented in rustic sepia tones and is comically exaggerated. French resistance members shown to be disgusting, overweight, and maliciously violent whilst the Nazi’s by contrast are presented as whiter than white, fair and caring. The film is intercut with the main narrative and helps to break up what could be a very restrictive one room film, but through its exaggerated content we are never allowed to escape the grim reality Molina and Valentin must face, in fact the propagandistic nature of the film means by contrast Molina and Valentin’s situation appears even worse. The propaganda film has a duel fuction, as it not only serves as a scene breaker, it also reflects the real-life dilemma that Molina faces as its story also focuses on a betrayer with divided loyalties. Correspondingly, the character of Molina subconsciously wants Valentin to know of his betrayal which is why he’s chosen to recount this inappropriate story, his consciousness projects his own desires for escape and redemption and most importantly the tragically noble ending. It is a fantasy and the reality is far from this film within a film, but this is one of the major themes of Babenco’s film, reality verses fantasy, escapism verses pragmatism.

Kiss of the Spider Woman is a performance driven film, and when examined strictly from this angle it excellence is clear to see. Julia and Hurt deliver excellent performances in the lead roles. The fact that they were originally cast in the opposite parts reveals the talent of these two performers. Because of the switch Hurt is left with the more challenging and therefore juicer role, he is so genuine in the part that it’s no surprise the Academy Award went to him that year, not just for stretching himself as an actor but also for succeeding so completely. He also won Best Actor for the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards, the Best Actor BAFTA, Best Actor at the Canne Film Festival, Actor of the Year at the London Critics Circle Film Awards, and Best Foreign Actor at the David di Donatello Awards - It is quite frankly the performance of a career, tender, sympathetic, conflicted, confused, a fantast, a transvestite, a homosexual, and deep down in side a naïve little boy who doesn’t truly understand the gravity of his situation. Hurt has never topped this part in the years that have followed.

Julia also gives his career best, a far cry from the part of Gomez in The Adam’s Family movies, or his tragically diabolical final performance in a theatrical film as General M.Bison in 1994’s Street Fighter. Here he convinces as a man embracing his misery, a man who finds comfort in knowing his actions have meaning and nobility in restraint, but he is far from a flawless man either, unwilling to respect his own right to exist, craving a reunion with his lover yet crippled on confined because of his relentless indignation.
The marginal supporting cast let down the team, heavily accented English which sounds like it wasn’t their first language, the warden and his second in command are both over zealously played but thankfully their appearances are minimal as so not to lower the overall calibre of the productions cast. Most of the film is reliant on its two principles.

This is Babenco’s most famous work, everything else he’s directed is far obscurer, and it is a great shame as he is a very talented character director with an eye for the details. He is a subtle craftsman who gently builds up the two characters and knows when to leave a scene. Babenco also tenderly increases the sexual tension between Molina and Valentin, the dynamic develops from friendly to loving and when it eventually reaches its apex the progression has been seamlessly natural. The characters also change in term of their perception of existence, Molina is constantly in a fantasy world but he slowly comes to terms with reality and is forced head first into the real consequences of his actions, Valentin believes in the real world, in real consequences, but he begins to escape this through fantasy. Babenco also creates two distinct realities, the gritty, grim and bleak reality of the prison which is juxtaposed with the romantic, clean, exaggerated but also bleak nature of the propaganda movie.

Kiss of the Spider Woman may be a simple film in terms of logistics but in terms of character and structure it is complex beyond its years and stands the test of time, it’s influence can be seen in countless film since, most notably Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain which maintains similar characters and an equally similar dynamic between it’s leading men. The end result for Kiss of the Spider Woman, like Brokeback Mountain - is an engaging study love in the most unlikely of places.

M.Dawson