The film Frida is a true account of the life and times of Frida Kahlo and portrays her quite spectacularly. The film is photographed beautifully using vibrant and warms colors just like in Frida's paintings and is probably shot in such a way because it is a film about her life, but more directly aimed at her creative life rather than her political beliefs. Frida consistently contains a deep resonance of dark pain depicting the pain in Frida's life. What is the significance of this pain and how does it affect Frida's life? A horrible accident in a metro bus when Frida was a young woman, a painful miscarriage, and an incredibly unsuccessful marriage are all perfect examples of the dreadful events experienced in Frida's life which attribute to her desire to paint. The unfortunate events in Frida's life act like a springboard to her creativity and are the reason why she began painting.
The single most important event for Frida's painting career occurs when she is riding a metro bus with her boyfriend. The bus is involved in a tremendous accident that is horrible but beautiful at the same time and can be considered an analog of Frida's life. The film shoots this scene so beautifully creating a very surreal event by slowing the camera speed and having the many particles of things held by the passengers fly in all directions. Once the bus comes to a resting stop Frida is laying on the bus' floor like an angel covered in gold shavings, broken glass, and blood which is just as strange and surreal as any of the paintings created by Frida later in her life. Subsequently due to the many injuries received through the accident Frida is bedridden for months and cannot walk. During this time she does nothing else but paint herself and her pain. The beginning of Frida's painting career is born.
As time goes on Frida continues to capture the essence of objects and people through her work and marries the famous painter Diego Rivera. "I could never paint like that...I couldn't I'm serious...Me I paint the outside world but you...you paint from here" Diego puts his hand over Frida's heart acknowledging where Frida's work come from. It is this reason why her paintings seem so troubled and painful. Frida eventually becomes pregnant with Diego's child and tries to have the baby knowing that it may be a difficult pregnancy due to the extensive injuries received in the bus accident. Those injuries would plague her the rest of her life. "I'm use to pain" is how Frida responds to Diego's inquiry of whether or not having a baby is a good idea. Of course, Frida miscarriages and again the film presents this horrific event so wonderfully. Frida is laying in her bed of white sheets and there is this distinctive bloody area that stands out so much because of the sharp contrast between the dark red and white. Once Frida realizes she has lost the baby she begins to paint. She begins to cope with her tragic reality by escaping on the canvas. The images Frida creates are so strong and heartfelt that not even Diego can bear not to cry as he quietly sobs out in the hallway of the hospital. A pain so clearly portrayed through her work that perhaps whoever should see it would feel the very pain she experienced at the hospital.
Throughout Frida's marriage she suffered constantly. After seeing Diego and her sister sleeping together Frida tells Diego "there have been two major accidents in my life, Diego...the trolley and you, by far you are the worst." In terms of suffering, Frida's marriage to Diego was a everlasting, but she stayed around and even defended its existence. Once she even defended it while discussing Diego's infidelity with a woman he had slept with while at the same time she was having an affair with the very same woman. The amount of pain Diego put Frida through is enough creative motivation to last her two lifetimes, and she made good use of it by painting and did so throughout their marriage.
This film depicts the life of a great Mexican artist. It seeks to find the motivation behind Frida Kahlo's work and uses several painful events to give meaning to her works. Frida is a beautiful film that uses life and the life carried in artist's work to find meaning and to answer questions of why every artist is so unique to their work. The answer is smothered throughout the film. Every artist lives a completely different life and unfortunately or fortunately for people all over the world Frida's life was filled with pain.