‘Frida’ (2024) Review – Inside The Mind And Soul Of An Artist

Frida Kahlo lovers are in for a treat with the latest documentary from Carla Gutierrez, Frida (2024). In this spectacular piece, audiences are given a glimpse into the psyche of one of the most interesting female artists of all time. Her life is displayed through letters, personal photos, and illustrations. It feels intimate without getting intrusive.

Frida Kahlo is a mystical figure but also one that goes beyond her art, she used her body as a tapestry to create more of the hardships of the world than the failings of her own body. As a female artist, she created a realistically scary image of the decaying, hurting body, but also that body in love, pain, or labor.

Kahlo’s body was a vessel on which the director places certain milestones, stations, and bus stops where viewers can get off and stare; mesmerized or scared. Kahlo’s journey into evolution both as a woman and an artist was not an easy one, and the film calmly draws attention to all the difficult things and the eye-opening wonders that she got exposed to along the way.

I was never really a fan of the 2002 feature directed by Julie Taymor. It lacked a lot of the depth and nuance that Frida Kahlo’s life contained, and it obscured the oddity that Kahlo’s unconventional beauty represented by having Salma Hayek wear prosthetics, with zero channeling of the Mexican painter’s soul and vulnerability. It is a refreshing thing to tap into Gutierrez’s dream-like world, infused with the recreation of Kahlo’s paintings, archival materials, and important elements from her life.

Kahlo’s art, unlike her husband’s, was small-scale and self-reflective, unlike the grandiose spectacle that his paintings were. When they went to New York, it was expected of the art scene at the time to receive him with such welcoming energy, while she took two steps back, preferring to hide her art and her aching body from a world she saw as superficial and crass. The documentary is an insight into how female artists’ are overshadowed by their partners’ fame or lack of it. It is an insight into how sometimes, art is not enough for a woman to seek nourishment beyond pouring herself into it.

The best artist documentaries are the ones that try to give audiences a glimpse of how their lives were, as well as how they viewed the world. How did Frida view the world? What was her interpretation of color? Why did she pick herself as her primary subject and inspiration? All these questions ravage the mind of a Frida Kahlo fan, and the film answers them all, not through quick, direct statements but as a meditation on the artistic experiences.

Frida is not concerned with anything other than its titular subject. It’s a film haunted by the scatterbrained thoughts, whims, fears, and potent fragility that was contained in Kahlo’s heart. It puts a spotlight on her internal struggle masterfully through more than one focus; one of the most interesting ones is her health issues, and her tumultuous relationship with Diego Rivera, the famous Mexican mural artist. Through her words and the narration of friends, audiences are let inside the head of a passionate artist in love, through sketches, a massive archive of personal photos, and intelligent tying up of words, images, and paintings, a whole relationship is laid out for people to ponder and reflect.

This chronological retelling of her life shows huge parts of what shaped her awareness and her commentary on social and intellectual matters. How she despised people of high society, how she as an artist never sought the kind of recognition that her husband did, not because she didn’t feel like she deserved fame, but because Kahlo was so lost in her artistic mind and spirit, other matters of the world didn’t excite her.

It is a splendid tale of heartache, passion, and colors. Frida is one of a kind, and I loved every second of it.

Frida is currently available to stream on Prime Video. 

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlrqxAgdY58]