Frida Movie Analysis

The movie Frida revolves around the hauntingly tragic life of Frida Kahlo. Frida was a surrealist Mexican painter, who was known for her intense self-portraits. Although she was often over shadowed by her egotistical muralist husband; Diego Rivera. Throughout the movie her life of pain, love, and self-hatred is compacted into 123 minutes. The main characters are Frida and Diego Rivera. Each character impacts each other more than they ever imagined. They both were sexual beings, who felt they could change the world with art, put them together and it created art filled with pain.

Frida lived a life full of not only emotional pain, but also a life of physical pain. In 1925 when she was only eighteen years old she suffered a traumatic bas accident.

Frida and her boyfriend at the time; Alex, are chasing a bus that they were late for due to childish antics. They finally caught up to the bus, they were talking and laughing, until all of a sudden the bus driver swerves and gets hit by oncoming traffic. All of a sudden the movie slows down as bags, papers, and bodies go flying across the open concept bus. Once the bus comes to a crashing stop, the camera goes to an eighteen year old Frida covered in both blood and art gold. This was foreshadowing to her pain filled life that she covered by her happy personality, that would take her childish innocence away from her. This horrific accident left her paralyzed from the waist down, with no hope of walking again. This is when she falls into a dark whole that would follow her for the rest of her life. The one thing that kept her from falling apart was her painting. In this time she was emotionally alone, and that showed in her self-portraits. Through her artwork she gained the strength to walk again. Frida’s portraits pictured a young resilient women filled with pain. This pain fueled passion is what led her to come to Diego Rivera to be a mentor in the art world.
Diego Rivera was a forty year old communist muralist.

He was widely admired for his murals, but by his two ex- wives he was hated for his cheating. Diego was an egotistical artist, who believed he deserved not only the best women, but the best walls to paint on, and the best ears to be heard by. This personality is what drew Frida in. The idea that there was somebody as damaged as her, was not only appealing but rather mesmerizing. When they meet for the first time she calls up to him, at first he does not waist his time to turn around, due to her persistence and beauty he decides to give her his time. But, much to his surprise she makes him come to her, it was unclear if that was an act of defiance or due to her in ability to climb stairs. He compliment her work, but she demands critique, she refuses to fall prey to his womanizing ways. But his words were purely in respect to her work, she was told to accept a compliment the same way a critique. This was to show that in are you must open your heart, something Frida had not yet done. Frida and Diego soon wed, where all of a sudden Frida lost her mentor and gained a cheating husband. Shortly after the wedding she took back seat to the life of the amazing

Diego.
The daily life Frida was to wake up, paint at home, cook, bring food to Diego at work, to paint in private, and to pretend her husband is not cheating.

In order to show she is not bothered by the other woman, she begins to seek attention from other men and women. They become friends who happen to be married and have a mutual respect for art. Yet, this relationship was pure love to the both of them. Because they were both sexual people, they did not feel the need for monogamy, rather just a respect for eachother. That shows how they were not emotionally steady enough for a traditional marriage. But, the moment Diego has an affair with Frida’s sister the respect was lost. Frida soon left Diego. For one of her more notable quotes “There have been two big accidents in my life Diego, the trolley and you. You are by far the worst”. This was a moment where she realized she deserved better than what Diego was able to offer. With time apart they decided to get back together. But, this time it was different. The movie made it unclear whether or not cheating was still a part of their relationship, but it was no longer the focal part. They grew old together, but for Frida it was not as old. IN her last days she finally got her dream of her own gallery showing in her home country, but she was so sick the doctor forbidden her to go. But her determined personality is one part of her that never wavered. While Diego was speaking on her behalf, she came in on her bed that was being carried.

She was determined to see her dream come true, so she made it happen. In the final scene she passed with a quote stating “I hope the exit is joyful and I hope never to return. Her portraits were full of dark portraits, but the paining of her on her death bed; she had a smile. The idea that her life was filled with so much damage and pain, that the only true escape was death, is a tragedy that only those who had no true hope suffer.