Kiss of the Spider Woman [Beijo da Mulher Aranha] ***** (1985, William Hurt, Raul Julia, Sonia Braga) – Classic Movie Review 5889

Director Hector Babenco’s provocative 1985 US Brazilian drama Kiss of the Spider Woman [Beijo da Mulher Aranha] stars William Hurt, who won the 1986 Best Actor Oscar for his brave and outstanding performance as an effeminate, trans homosexual locked up as cell mates in a South American jail with an utterly different, straight political activist (Raul Julia).

Hurt plays Luis Molina, a stereotypical window dresser found guilty of immoral behaviour, and Julia plays Valentin Arregui, a left-wing journalist jailed as a political prisoner. Recalling camp vintage Hollywood B-movies helps to keep Hurt alive and helps to form an unexpected deep bond between the two men. Braga plays Julia’s girlfriend Leni Lamaison and the fantasy Spider Woman.

Scripted by Leonard Schrader, the movie is an extremely effective transfer of Manuel Puig’s novel and play, both which unusually were equally successful artistically as well as commercially. Though director Babenco goes for a little opening out of the play towards the end, his film works remarkably well for most of its length with just the two men in a prison cell.

Hurt was also honoured by the British Film Academy with the 1986 BAFTA Film Award for Best Actor and he also won the Best Actor award at the 1985 Cannes Film Festival. He won the 1987 London Critics Circle Film Award as Actor of the Year, tied with Bob Hoskins for Mona Lisa (1986).

The two actors were slated for the opposite parts but swapped just before filming.

Also in the cast are Jose Lewgoy, Nuno Leal Maia, Antonio Petrim, Milton Goncalves, Miriam Pires, Fernando Torres, Patricio Bisso, Herson Capri and Denise Dumont.

Kiss of the Spider Woman [Beijo da Mulher Aranha] is shot by Rodolfo Sanchez, produced by David Weisman, scored by John Neschling and designed by Clovis Bueno.

The film has three other Oscar nominations – for Best Picture (David Weisman), Best Director (Hector Babenco) and Best Adapted Screenplay (Leonard Schrader).

Raúl Rafael Carlos Juliá Arcelay (March 9, 1940 – October 24, 1994).

Leonard Schrader (November 30, 1943 – November 2, 2006).

Hector Babenco died on 13 July 2016, aged 70.

William Hurt (March 20, 1950 – March 13, 2022) made his film debut in Ken Russell’s 1980 Altered States, followed by the 1981 neo-noir Body Heat. He had three consecutive nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actor, for Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), Children of a Lesser God (1986), and Broadcast News (1987), winning for the first of these.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5889

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