Kiss of the Spider Woman

SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed.

The title of this 1985 film continually scrolls across the screen in large letters as the titles are displayed. In the context of this story, this technique implies that the imaginary story told in this movie within a movie can block out reality and divert the audience from the harshness of the world.

And what a harsh world the story presents. The first shot is of the shadows cast by the bars of a prison cell on the wall. Mixed in with the drab clothes hung around the enclosed space, however, are drawings and movie star photos displayed on the walls, contributing to the theme of imaginary escape. Luis Molina (William Hurt, who won the Best Actor Oscar for this role) melodramatically tells the story of a favorite film of his. He wears women’s make-up and he has a scarf wrapped around his head which covers his moderately long hair. He wears a colorful robe, engages in slow, fluid movements, and speaks in a sensuous manner. The result is the presentation of one of the first sympathetic transgender characters on screen. In contrast, Molina’s cellmate is Valentin Arregui (Raul Julia), who has a macho scruffy look, complete with unkempt hair and beard, and wears a bland shirt and pair of jeans.

We are not given a specific time or location, but it appears they are in a Latin American country in the present day that is controlled by a brutal dictatorship. Molina’s exaggerated descriptions of the woman in his story grate on Valentin, who wants to edit the story, making the woman have black eyes (possibly reflecting the darkness of his personality). Valentin says the woman in the tale has not met that special man she seeks, not because of the frustration of not finding a perfect love as Molina suggests, but because she probably has bad breath. Molina is the romantic and Valentin is the realist (not unlike the two characters in When Harry Met Sally …, which was discussed last week, only here the story is very serious).

Molina’s story is set in Paris during the Nazi occupation. The setting epitomizes a brutal world that still contains the hope of true love (which is what this film is about). He tells of men dealing in contraband, and describes specialty foods. Valentin demands that the story not contain food or naked women. They just remind him of what he can’t have in the prison. Molina seems concerned about Valentin’s health. Valentin admits that his back hurts. He says he is sweating because his fever is breaking, so the health issues here are daily, tangible problems. The disparity between Molina’s romantic story and the brutal nature of incarcerated life suggests the need for imaginative escape when there is physical bondage (another example of this theme exists in the satire, Brazil, which is the country where Molina and Valentin may be confined). Indeed, Valentin, reflecting his take on life, critiques Molina’s movie because he says there is no reality in it. Valentin was a journalist, but the stories he told were of real events. In Molina’s story, he describes thugs, who are stealthily observing the Nazis, wearing hats that he thinks makes them Turks. But, Valentin says they were yamakas and he angrily says Molina’s movie is a Nazi propaganda, anti-Semitic film. Molina seems clueless about politics. He is only interested in the story of the lovers, not in the historical backdrop of the story, again stressing the difference in the two characters’ perspectives.

Molina continues the story, which he admits contains his “embellishments,” (his creative collaboration with a fictional work) and introduces the German head of intelligence, Werner (Herson Capri), who is at a club. Also there is a cigarette girl, Michelle (Denise Dumont). The club’s singer, Leni (Sonia Braga) performs her act. Michelle gets a call from the French Resistance telling her to get a Nazi map showing the location of German weapons. The diverting story is interrupted, and thus, escapism is undermined, when a new person arrives at the prison who is bleeding profusely. Valentin concludes he is probably a political prisoner, since the authorities don’t hurt those in custody to such an extent if they only “stole bananas.” The fascist regime sees the real threat to its existence as being those who challenge their rule, like Valentin himself, as opposed to actual criminals. Molina says he wishes he could be with a blonde, handsome cellmate, since Valentin is so moody. Valentin tells Molina that he is boring, but Molina says that Valentin doesn’t know that much about him, except that he is gay and was arrested for seducing a minor. Molina says that he doesn’t care about politics, only how handsome the men are, showing his desire to evade a world that would judge his sexuality. Valentin criticizes Molina for liking blonde, Germanic types, Werner being one of them, and implying that Molina’s focus on sex and romance alone allows political repression to take hold. Valentin wonders why his interrogation stopped a week ago, which is a hint at some subterfuge that will be revealed later.

The story that Molina tells begins to mirror what is going on between Molina and Valentin (whose name sounds like Valentine, which is ironic for someone who seems, at least through much of the movie, to be anti-romantic). Michelle confesses to Leni that she is pregnant by a German officer, and feels as if she is a traitor to her country. Leni questions how she can fall in love with the enemy, but Michelle says love knows no national boundaries. However, what makes it worse is that Michelle works for the French Resistance. (Molina says he identifies with the female singer, because his inner self always wants to be the heroine in his stories, wanting to feel the depths of emotional love, as opposed to adopting the traditional male stoical persona). This conflict between love and allegiance to a cause is distasteful to Valentin, and he criticizes Molina, as a gay man, for romanticizing any relationship with Nazis who would exterminate someone with a homosexual orientation. Valentin tells Molina that he isn’t facing the facts with his movie fixation. He tells Molina that there is no escape for him. But, Molina says he will escape in his own way, through his immersing himself in his fictional story. Valentin’s reaction is to say that Molina’s life is as trivial as his movies, which shows Valentin trying to invalidate the power of imagination.

Molina offers Valentin some delicious avocado, but Valentin says he doesn’t want to get used to something satisfying because it will make him weaker. He sees the food as a sort of forbidden fruit being offered by a tempter to divert him from his righteous path. He is so invested in his social fight that he can’t indulge in personal delight. The two-line exchange that follows between the two sums up the film. Molina says it is okay to enjoy the pleasures that life offers him. But, Valentin counters by saying what life offers him is “the struggle.” Molina advocates being a hedonist, taking advantage of whatever joys life offers. Valentin is more like Sisyphus, destined to continue to push up against the woes that the world rolls down upon him, like a huge rock. Molina asks if Valentin has a girlfriend, and if so, does she also deny herself pleasure. Valentin says the most important thing in life is to support a cause that is noble, and his woman knows that is what is important. Valentin angrily says that Molina’s talk is like that of a woman. Molina, sounding very contemporary to our time, says what’s wrong with that? He asks why should women only be sensitive? Why can’t a man also be emotional? He argues, effectively, that then there wouldn’t be so much violence in the world, implying that empathy for suffering would inhibit the hurting of others.

The warden wanted to see Molina, who tells Valentin it was because his lawyer called and it appears that Molina’s parole is out of the question. When Valentin asks how did the warden treat him, Molina says “Like a faggot.” Molina looks defeated and disgusted by his life in a harshly judgmental society. Molina feels guilty because his mother has high blood pressure, which Molina feels has been aggravated by her son being imprisoned. Valentin, generously thinking here that escapism may be what’s best for Molina, says he can continue with his movie. In Molina’s movie, Werner’s limo is at the stage door, and Leni joins Werner, which seems hypocritical since she criticized Michelle about falling for a German. Meanwhile, Michelle is followed by men from the Resistance, who know she hasn’t delivered the map, and is meeting her German soldier lover. The men see her as a traitor, and run her over with their car. In a reversal of approaches to the story, Valentin is actually moved by her death, and Molina plays it down, saying it’s only a movie. They now seem to be capable of looking at things from the other’s standpoint. Valentin admits that the story was relevant to his actual situation because it made him worry for his girlfriend. Molina says Valentin should write to her urging her not to be reckless. Valentin counters by saying nothing will be accomplished if one doesn’t take chances. Molina now attacks Valentin’s commitment to what Molina sees as a doomed cause, and says it is Valentin who is living in a fantasy if he thinks his political solution can be achieved. But,Valentin shows his scars from being tortured, and says he does not indulge in fantasy. Molina is disturbed by seeing the wounds and apologizes. Valentin says there will be a victory, so he is now looking for hope amid the negativity around him.

But, Valentin has trouble dealing with his predicament. He paces the cell like a wild animal in a cage. He is starving, yet wants Molina to take the plate with the bigger portion that was delivered to their cell. He says their jailers deliberately offered the disproportionate amounts to cause fighting between them so that they would be more easily controlled if they are divided against each other. Molina urges Valentin to tell his girlfriend how much he loves her if he writes her a letter. But, Valentin says that will expose her, and what is keeping him alive is if he retains some information as leverage. Valentin admits to worrying that his girl is also being intimidated to divulge secrets. He seems to be straddling between being concerned about the cause and the welfare of individuals.

Molina shows how he also sees the story from the movie connecting to his real life, and he demonstrates his deep, feminine emotions. He cries about the lovers in the film, because he identifies with how difficult it is to find the right man. He confesses to having been hurt romantically many times. He replaces the story of the film with a true one that feels like a film to him. He fell for a waiter who had a “sad smile” and Molina worked hard just to get him to take a walk with him. After a year they became friends, but the guy was straight and married. Valentin, taking the typical male pose, says he should stop crying about it and should “take it like a man.” But Molina, true to what he feels he really is, says, “I take it like a woman.” Valentin asks what does he feel is a “real man.” Molina says a real man for him is handsome, tall, and doesn’t flaunt his strength. Valentin correctly points out that those are just surface poses. He says a real man does not take anything from others, but especially does not humiliate anybody, and does not allow people around him to feel degraded. Typically, Molina’s outlook is more physically tangible, and Valentin’s is more philosophical.

Molina becomes sick to his stomach after eating the unequally portioned meal, and says it could be his ulcer. As a distraction, he tries to resume his story. He say the resistance men lie to Leni, saying the Germans killed Michelle, and tell her she must find the map to the German arsenal from Werner. She manages to escape from them. But the tale is again interrupted as Valentin calls for help because Molina is very ill. It’s as if the reality of sickness undermines his desire to immerse himself in his fantasy. In the infirmary, the doctor tells Molina to only drink clean water if he can find it, emphasizing the harshness of the reality of Molina’s non-movie life.

Back in the cell, and because the film story shows both Michele and Leni falling for men that are their country’s enemies, Molina wonders if Valentin has ever fallen for someone he shouldn’t love (this is an ironic foreshadowing of what happens later). Another prisoner is killed, and Valentin, in his outrage, stirs up the other prisoners, calling their captors fascist murderers. Valentin is angry with Molina, again saying he is telling a pro-Nazi story. He reminds Molina that Nazis killed Jews, Catholics, and gays. Molina cries because of Valentin’s outburst. Valentin says he may sob like a woman, but he is denying the truth all of the time, because Molina has a penis and is still a man in prison, and that is reality. Molina says it’s a mistake, and he would cut it off if he had the courage. There is a flashback to Molina being sentenced to eight years in prison. But, in a very real way, Molina has been a woman confined in a male body, so he has been in prison his whole life.

Valentin now becomes sick after eating, but doesn’t want to go the infirmary because he feels the authorities will try to get him to inform by using his illness as leverage. Molina resumes the story to take Valentin’s mind off of his agony. He talks about Werner and Leni dancing and listening to music so he can soothe Valentin. As he says what happens in the movie, Molina covers Valentin with a blanket, and strokes his head. Later, he says how Leni hears her lover, Werner, ordering executions and is horrified that she must, out of national duty, betray Werner. In a break from the storytelling, Molina makes Valentin laugh as he pretends to have breasts, using avocado skins. But, again, escapist fun is interrupted by punishing reality as Valentin can’t even use the bucket because he has to defecate so quickly. As Molina tries to comfort Valentin, there is a drawing on the wall next to Molina of a skull and crossbones, an ominous symbol, usually associated with poisoning, and Valentin believes that he has been poisoned. He is embarrassed for soiling himself. But Molina uses Valentin’s own words and tells him to take it like a man. Molina, appearing generous, shares his clean clothes saying they are “ours,” and is willing to clean Valentin. Here, Molina is willing to deal with the unsavory reality in front of him, despite Valentin saying he, the so-called realist, maybe couldn’t tolerate something so disgusting. Possibly Molina can confront unsavory business when he has to, because he knows what it is to have others feel disgust for him. Valentin admits that Molina is very kind, (which turns out to be a somewhat ironic statement), but Valentin still does not trust easily, and he seems concerned that he may have divulged secret information while asleep.

Molina assures Valentin that all he said was a woman’s name, Marta (also Sonia Braga). Valentin admits, in a moment of trust, that she is not his girlfriend in the resistance. Marta is from a well-to-do family, so Valentin confesses that he is a hypocrite for loving the enemy of his cause (just as Leni cares for Werner). But, she was useful to him, because, before he was imprisoned, he was able hide from the authorities at Marta’s place. He revealed his resistance activity to Marta, who, out of concern for Valentin’s safety, asked him to leave the movement. He said he couldn’t, because, again, he placed his happiness below fighting for his cause. Because her first priority was love, Marta told Valentin not to come back if their relationship was not what he valued most.

Valentin attempted to help Dr. Americo (Fernando Torres), one of the original resistance leaders, by giving the man his passport so he could leave the country, and spread the word of their struggle to the outside world. Valentin, showing his dark pessimistic side, says during all the time Americo was a leader, he had accomplished hardly anything. Valentin, although believing in his fight against oppression, admits to not being so unselfish as to be a martyr for the cause. He pleads with Molina to not let him die. Molina promises to help him.

But then the film reveals a secret to the audience. This time, we witness Molina meeting with the warden, and we see that he has made a deal for an early parole. He agreed to be an undercover spy and report any information Valentin might disclose about the resistance. Molina assures the warden that Valentin doesn’t suspect him (which we can believe, because most of us didn’t realize he was involved in something covert). There was poison in the food, as Valentin suspected. Molina became sick first because Valentin had insisted Molina eat the bigger food plate which had been tainted. Molina couldn’t refuse that dish or Valentin would have become suspicious. The next time, Molina did give Valentin the plate with the poison. The warden, wanting Molina to stick with their deal, tells him that his mother was doing better knowing that her son would soon be released. There is a policeman with the warden who wants Molina to get the code name of a recent prisoner once Valentin recognizes him.

Molina gets the warden to provide a bag of supplies and food that he said his mother would bring. Otherwise, Molina argued, Valentin would be suspicious if it didn’t arrive. But, Molina actually wants to get these goods for Valentin. Molina shares food, cigarettes, and clean sheets with Valentin. Valentin now says he wants to hear how Molina’s movie story ends, but he may just want to indulge Molina as a thank you for the supplies. Molina says that in the film, Leni is angry at Werner for butchering her country. In response, he shows her footage of poor people in places where the elite have hurt lower classes. He paints himself as a liberator of the underprivileged.  Leni then makes a commitment to Werner to betray the resistance men. She arranges a meeting with the resistance leader to give him the map. (The movie within the film has to do with betrayal, as does Molina’s supposedly working for the warden). The resistance leader tries to ravish Leni (this may be, as Valentin suggested, a Nazi propaganda movie, but it also points to the fact that not all people in a good cause are necessarily good people). She is able to stab her attacker and retrieve the map. Werner appears and shoots one of the leader’s associates, who gets off a shot that kills Leni. Werner says her sacrifice was not in vain. Ironically, what Werner says resembles what Valentin had said about the cause being what was most important. People may be genuinely committed to a movement, even if that crusade is not a just one.

Valentin hears a man suffering, and eventually reveals that the man is Americo, the one to whom he gave his passport. Molina does not divulge any information to the authorities, despite his acting as if he is trying to ingratiate himself to find out information from Valentin. Americo is killed, and Valentin goes into a rage. Molina manipulates the warden by saying that if he can tell Valentin that Molina will be released soon, then, Valentin will be willing to bring Molina into his confidence. Back in the cell, Molina shares candy, but Valentin says he doesn’t want to be indebted to Molina, because Valentin does not feel he can be as generous. Molina tells Valentin that even if he is paroled, he is still imprisoned by the society at large for his sexual orientation.

Molina starts to tell another story about a woman (Sonia Braga in a third role) on a faraway island who was caught in a spider web which came out of her own body. A man washes up on the beach, and she nourished him back to life. When he awakes he looks at the spider woman and she has a perfect teardrop on her face. In a way, Molina is comparing himself to the spider woman, caught in his own web because he can’t conform to the ways of the world around him, and Valentin represents the man she nurses back to health. Molina says he is suffering because he has fallen in love with Valentin. As a form of gratitude, Valentin allows Molina to touch Valentin’s facial scar, a sort of symbolic healing act. Molina rests in Valentin’s arms, and submits to Molina’s love as they then have sex.

The next day, Molina says he is so happy to the point that he feels like he won’t be unhappy again. Molina is back in the warden’s office, but says Valentin revealed nothing about the resistance. The policeman is angry and rightfully accuses Molina of having fallen in love with Valentin. The warden still grants Molina his parole. Valentin wants Molina to deliver a message for him to the rebels, but Molina says he can’t because he is afraid that the police might find out. Molina says he wishes he could be with Valentin. Valentin says he will miss Molina, too. He wants Molina to promise him not to let others exploit him or humiliate him, which is exactly what the authorities have been trying to do. Molina changes his mind and agrees to deliver the message. They kiss goodbye.

But, the authorities expected Molina to collude with Valentin, and that is why he is released from the prison. The police follow him to see if he will lead them to the the enemies of the government. Molina appears to be accepting that he will meet his end. He returns home to his mother and goes to a gay bar to see friends. He seems sad because he is actually saying his goodbyes. A policeman says Molina has not returned to work and mostly stays at home, which is further evidence that Molina is accepting that his helping Valentin will lead to his death. Molina tells the waiter, whom he cared for, that he won’t be seeing him for a while, and is going away. The movie star pictures on the walls of his room at his mother’s house help to stress the contrast between the escape into the fantasy of films with the dangerous action Molina is about to take. He calls the resistance number that Valentin gave him, whom he must meet in person. As further proof that he knows how things will end for him, he withdraws his savings and gives them to a friend to hold for his mother. As his mother sleeps, Molina says that he must now take care of his own life. On his way to the meeting, Molina sees the cops tailing him, but he feels that he must get to the meeting. A car pulls up and Molina says he has a message, but the police burst onto the scene, shooting. Molina runs after the car, but Molina is shot, ironically, not by the police, but by the resistance fighter who assumes Molina has betrayed them. Molina won’t divulge the phone number Valentin gave him to the police, and he dies remaining loyal to Valentin. The cops just drop his body in a dump. The official report says that he was more involved with resistance forces than they thought and was willing to die rather than be compromised. The truth is that he was involved with one person, and unlike those who care primarily for causes, was dedicated to an individual more than a political movement.

Valentin has been badly tortured. He dreams about Marta, the rich girl he loved. In the dream, she takes him away to a beach, and they row away on the water. It is filmed in black and white, which makes it seem unreal, but then the scene changes to color, making it more believable, and the dream substitutes for reality. Valentin now, as did Molina, escapes into an illusion, which is what a movie is, because sometimes we only find refuge in our imagination.

The next film is Thelma and Louise.