Frida

Starring: Salma Hayek, Alfred Molina

Release: 2002

Frida (2002) follows the life and work of Frida Kahlo (played here by Salma Hayek) from her youth through her death. The film represents the Mexican surrealist and self portrait painter as influenced primarily by two things: the bus accident that nearly killed her as a teenager and her two turbulent marriages to muralist Diego Rivera (played by Alfred Molina). As it focuses on such a broad expanse of experience, the film proves to embody both the very worst aspects of so-called “biopics” and the very best.

When it comes down to it, a number of the films on this list (particularly Basquiat, Pollock, and Lust for Life) all suffer from the same problem that Frida does: they try to address an entire life in the length of a few short hours, which is nearly impossible. The result is that the life is boiled down to a few events, with pictures of paintings interspersed. This can, unfortunately, give a film a bit of a hollow feel, which does happen sometimes in Frida.