ly good film.
L s ae is a men.
jail. revoluJullay. the other homosexual. Raul Julia plays Valentín, the revolutionary, , and William Hurt plays Molina, the homosexual. Julia's good performance is overshadowed by Hurt's spectacular performance as the homosexual.
Spider Woman is the story or ine compiex Iela tionship that develops betWeek eseWu VCy different cellmates difnot simply in the ictelll sense that one is gay and the other straight, but in their makeup personalities. Molina can be silly and petty. But he's a very sensitive, creative person who relies heavily on a rich imagination to survive the blows he suffers as a repressive, homophobic society.
Valentin is a strong. resolute person, commitled 1o his comrades of the underground. Actually, there's room tor speculation as to whether he's a revolutionary or rather if he found himself involved with revolutionaries as a result of an act of human solidarity on behalf of a endet the ground.
Molina seeks refuge from the harshness of life in the make-believe world .of film. Valentín scolds but REALLY GOOD films tend to create controversy, and Kiss of the Spider Woman is that kind of movie. In New York, it's been playing to capacity crowds, and most people seem to like it very much. While hastening to concede that, like many things in this world, it's not perfect, I do think it's an exceptionalwhat the Nazis did io homosexuals?
With a flash of equal anger, Molina responds:
Of course I do!' But he insists on enjoying the film pure camp perhaps more precisely enjoying his obviously superior recreation of it.
He insists on the right to NOICC his imagination without restraint.
Valentín finally him onto another film, The Kiss of the Spider Woman.