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Frida | 2002 | R | - 7.7.6

The life and times of Mexican painter and 20th century icon Frida Kahlo, with Salma Hayek in the title role, focuses on Frida's rocky and often abusive relationship with her husband and fellow artist Diego Rivera (Alfred Molina), her bisexuality, medical problems and the drug and alcohol abuse that killed her at age 47. Antonio Banderas co-stars as David Siqueiros, Rivera's rival in the Mexican art world, Ashley Judd is Italian photographer Tina Modotti, Geoffrey Rush is Leon Trotsky, and Edward Norton is Nelson Rockefeller -- who famously contracted Rivera to paint the lobby mural of Rockefeller Center, only to renege because it included a portrait of Lenin. [2:03]

SEX/NUDITY 7 - A woman lies nude in a bed (we see her bare breasts), another woman takes off her clothes and joins her and they kiss and caress each other. We see a nude woman from the back (bare back and buttocks) lying on top of a man and thrusting and another woman discovers them. A man and a woman lie in bed together kissing (we see the man's bare back as he lies on top of the woman). A man and a woman kiss, he unbuttons her blouse and kisses her back, and caresses her breasts. A woman leans in to nuzzle with another woman, tells her "you are better than your husband" and puts her hand up the woman's shirt. A young man and a young woman have sex in a closet; we hear them moaning and see them thrusting (we see her bare breasts briefly while she dresses afterward). Two women dance seductively together, caressing each other's bodies, holding each other close and kissing as a crowd watches. A nude woman poses for a man (we see her bare breast), and another woman poses nude for a man (we see her bare breasts). A man caresses a woman's bare breasts and says "I could eat you," and they kiss. A man and woman lie in bed together, he caresses her abdomen and chest. A young man and a young woman kiss, and the young woman grabs the young man's crotch. A man and a woman kiss several times in different scenes. A man and a woman hug and the woman pushes him away accusing him of having been with another woman. A man kisses a woman's bare shoulder, and a man caresses a woman's clothed buttock. People dance and kiss in a club scene. A body cast is removed and a woman's bare breasts are exposed. A woman pulls up her dress to show her bare thigh. A woman lies in a bathtub and we see her bare legs, feet and shoulders. A man sits in a bathtub and we see his bare shoulders and chest. We see a painting of a man showing his bare buttocks. A woman holds a squash between her legs pretending to have male genitalia. A woman wears a dress that is cut low in the back. A young man and a young woman hold each other as they walk. We see a photo of an infant with a bare bottom.

VIOLENCE/GORE 7 - A man is hit in the head with a pickax and blood pours onto pages of paper on the desk where he falls. A bus crashes into another bus causing it to be shoved into the corner of a building which breaks the bus apart and the passengers are thrown around; we see one passenger lying blood-covered and twisted on the ground and hear about her severe injuries. A woman lies in bed and her legs and the bed around her are soaked with blood; we see her in the hospital later, we hear that she had a miscarriage, and she says "my baby came out in pieces"; we see a baby in a jar of liquid. We see a depiction of a miscarriage, with a woman lying in blood with red tendrils attached to a baby floating above her. A man's house is shot up, and he and his wife roll out of bed and onto the floor as bullets fly through the room. We see a painting of a woman with bloody wounds on her torso and hear about a man having stabbed a woman 22 times. A man pulls a gun and shoots at a man, he misses and hits a record player. Men begin fighting in a bar with punching and shoving. A woman is strapped into a metal brace and we see her discolored toes; they are pronounced "gangrenous" and "they have to come off," and a woman's leg is amputated (we see her after the fact). A woman is strapped to the ceiling and her head is in a brace while seated and a body cast is applied as she cries from the pain. We see a woman with a bruised eye and mouth (apparently from her abusive husband). We see a woman lying in a hospital bed in a cast and bloody bandages and she screams from the pain. A woman slaps a man's hand, a man spits on another man, a woman throws a drink on a man's face, and a man lunges at another man. A man talks about his children having been murdered. A woman receives a telegram that her mother is dying. A woman fires a gun in the air to scare away two old women that are praying on her doorstep. A woman lying still on a bed is put into the back of a truck (she grimaces when the truck hits a bump). A dog urinates on a painting, the artist chases the dog with a machete, grabs him and strokes him lovingly. We see a woman's "dreams" -- or what she imagines -- in several scenes (they are sometimes renderings and sometimes animated renderings): Once we see a roomful of skeletons acting like doctors trying to repair her injuries, we see King Kong put a man in his mouth, we see a woman's scarred foot transform into stone with a large crack, we see more paintings with images of human organs, bloody wounds, a "dream" depicts a woman's death, we see a skeleton lying on a bed and watch as what looks like the woman bursts into flames. We see a photograph of a dead infant. A woman lies in a full body cast; only one leg below the knee is exposed. People gather at gravesites singing and lighting candles. A man arrives at a house surrounded by armed guards.

LANGUAGE 6 - 10 F-words, 5 scatological terms (one in Spanish), 3 sexual references, 5 anatomical terms, 15 mild obscenities, 1 religious profanity, 4 religious exclamations.

SUBSTANCE USE - People smoke cigars and cigarettes and drink alcohol. One party scene shows many attendees intoxicated.

DISCUSSION TOPICS - Revolution, Communism, vanity, propaganda, art, symbolism, Stalin, Lenin, Trotsky, friendship, jealousy, bisexuality, infidelity, loyalty, atheism, ambition, pretension, divorce, spousal abuse, solidarity.

MESSAGE - Be your own person. We can endure much more than we think we can.

CAVEATS

Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.

We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.

Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.


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