Salma Hayek’s Best Role Was in This 23-Year-Old Oscar-Winning Drama

These days, Salma Hayek is known for her roles in Eternals, From Dusk Till Dawn, and Wild Wild West. The talented actress has earned acclaim for her adaptability, although she retains strong ties to her comedic roots. She’s earned plenty of well-deserved fans since then, but many have missed her best role. Way back in 2002, Hayek landed the leading role in Julie Taymor’s Frida, a surrealistic biographical drama about Frida Kahlo. That role rightfully propelled Hayek’s career into the stratosphere, and she’s been climbing the cinematic ladder ever since.

So, what makes the film so special? Like many of Julie Taymor’s films, the entirety of Frida is a meticulous masterpiece. It’s more than a simple biography. It’s a fully reconstructed world, and its characters act accordingly. Simply starring in such an “artsy” film is difficult enough, but the subject matter must also be considered. After all, biographical films have high standards. Despite her fame as a pop culture icon and being printed upon all things kitsch — from socks and slippers to handbags and pencil cases — Frida Kahlo was far from the “ideal” personality. She didn’t earn her status as a Mexican revolutionary icon by following societal norms. Simply put, portraying one of Mexico’s most beloved figures is a daunting task, and Hayek absolutely nailed it.

Julie Taymor’s Frida Brought an Artistic Icon to the Silver Screen

As Frida Kahlo, Salma Hayek draws on a full-body cast. The scene is part of the early portion of Frida.

Frida Kahlo, portrayed by Salma Hayek, prepares for her wedding in Julie Taymor’s Frida.

Frida Kahlo (Salma Hayek) sleeps with Diego Rivera (Alfred Molina) in 2002’s Frida.

Like its subject, Frida is all about art. The film covers the entirety of the artist’s life, and each “stage” is marked by one of Kahlo’s bright and fanciful paintings. At the same time, Taymor packs Frida with the same vivid imagery of the artist’s works. Wings, floral crowns, and rich foliage flow throughout the film and connect even the most disparate moments.

Narratively, Frida is a faithful retelling of its subject’s life. It covers her childhood battle with polio and devastating injuries from a trolley crash in her late teens. To pass the time as she heals, Kahlo takes up painting. This single action forever changes the trajectory of both Frida’s life and art history as a whole.

While some biopics aggressively sanitize the past, Frida embraces the artist’s every flaw. There are no singing and dancing underlings, only raw emotion. Like its subject, Julie Taymor’s film burns bright and fast. Perhaps more importantly, Frida never condemns or endorses its cast’s actions. Everything that happens is simply a matter of cause and effect; nothing is “problematic.”

And that objectivity is essential in a film about a subject as polarizing as the inimitable Frida Kahlo. For many, she’s an icon of fierce independence and feminism. But, as Frida demonstrates, there’s more to Kahlo than her pop culture image. Throughout her life, Frida Kahlo engaged in extramarital affairs with both men and women. At one point, having discovered Rivera’s (Alfred Molina) most recent triste, Kahlo seduced the couple’s recent housemade Leon Trotsky. Another act of revenge involved seducing one of Rivera’s many female lovers.

Kahlo was also a fierce opponent of capitalism and Western culture. A self-professed leftist, Frida’s words would likely be branded as propaganda by some modern audiences. She adored her Hispanic heritage and abhorred the time she spent in New York City, declaring that “Americans completely lack sensibility and good taste.” Similarly, despite enjoying the nightlife of Paris, Kahlo criticized its populace as “the most pretentious bores in the world.”

Unlike many films, Frida cannot be defined by a summary. Explaining its plot is little more than writing a biography. The film’s artistry lies in its uncritical examination of a remarkable woman. As with any biopic, Taymor’s work follows its subject’s trajectory. Frida is born, and she eventually dies. What happens in between — and, more importantly, how it’s portrayed — is what matters.

Why Frida Is Salma Hayek’s Best Performance

Frida Kahlo (Salma Hayek) smokes a cigarette in Frida.

Taymor’s film shows that the real Frida Kahlo was — like everyone — a collection of mish-mashed and often contradictory ideals. Despite her disdain for Western culture, Kahlo still embraced elements of the regions she so despised. She fell in love with people from around the world and often went against her own need for loyalty to exact revenge on Rivera. Yet she still re-married him before her death.

Salma Hayek had to embody all of these things, and she did so with the utmost precision. She tackled one of the world’s most challenging roles and brought a formerly underrated artist to life. She also worked under tremendous stress, as the film’s producer, Harvey Weinstein, constantly criticized the cast’s performances.

Notably, under Weinstein’s dictatorial thumb, the film had to appeal to both Mexican and American audiences. Thus, Hayek was constantly straddling the line between embracing Kahlo’s value to her native country and demonstrating her worth on a global scale. After all, the film’s concept had been around for years. There was a demand for a Kahlo biopic, but it was mostly concentrated in Latin America.

And Salma Hayek still performed perfectly. She embraced everything about Frida Kahlo, essentially becoming the beloved artist. Her acting perfectly balanced Kahlo’s revolutionary fire and intimate need for privacy and space. She captured Kahlo’s physical mannerisms and personal quirks while quietly demonstrating why these elements mattered. So much of her performance was both physically and emotionally demanding, and Hayek never faltered.

Salma Hayek’s Connections to Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo (Salma Hayek) dances with Josephine Baker (Karine Plantadit-Bageot) in Frida.

Frida Kahlo (Salma Hayek) sits in Diego Rivera's (Alfred Molina) lap in Frida.

Portraying Mexican muralist Diego Rivera, Alfred Molina looks down from a balcony in Frida.

Hayek’s triumphant performance in Frida is a testament to her talent. She steals every scene of the film and turns Kahlo’s otherwise unimposing figure into a force of ideological change. Nothing about Hayek’s role was easy, yet she makes every moment as realistic as it is effortless.

It’s also worth noting that Frida was a personal role for many of its actors. After all, Frida Kahlo is a Mexican cultural icon. There, her legacy is on par with the global retrospectives of Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali. Yet, unlike these two examples, Kahlo’s life is an unrelenting force against constant cultural change. Even today, Frida Kahlo represents a love for Mexican folk traditions.

Interestingly, despite these cultural ties, Hayek admitted that she started with a slight distaste for Kahlo’s work. (And, admittedly, Frida Kahlo’s art can fall into the “acquired taste” category.) Per her own words, Hayek’s first impressions of Kahlo’s intimately personal art deemed it “ugly and grotesque.” Nonetheless, she had a healthy interest in the artist’s life, calling Kahlo “a fighter.”

That interest drove Hayek to solely seek out Dolores Olmedo Patino, the legal administrator of Kahlo’s paintings, to secure the rights to Kahlo’s extensive portfolio. She also assembled the film’s core cast and solicited Julie Taymor’s expertise. Ultimately, Hayek pushed through production setbacks and abuse to bring Kahlo’s story to the world, and that determination shines as brightly as her acting.

The stunning result rests upon Hayek’s acting and organizing skills, both of which were monumental efforts. Considering today’s pop culture climate, it may be impossible to reproduce the fruits of that activism and passion. Hayek perfectly captured Kahlo’s difficult life and “problematic” aspects. She unerringly embraced her role’s most sordid moments. She rejects the moralistic Oppenheimer approach and embraces an intimately personal viewpoint.

That perspective shines in her acting. It’s apparent in Kahlo’s gleeful smugness when Rivera discovers his wife’s infidelity and her heartfelt pain when she miscarries the couple’s child. Hayek’s devotion to her subject matter gives Frida its potency and captivating allure. It brings Mexico’s beloved artist to life. Hayek makes it easy to feel like Frida Kahlo is present in the room. She makes audiences want to ask questions, to ponder if the real Frida Kahlo would even support her modern place as a kitschy presence on (often overpriced) mass-produced socks, handbags, and shirts.

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