A recent visitor left me some DVDs amongst which was Kiss of the Spider Woman. Thanks to Linux and OSS I managed to rip-off the DRM and watch it (again after many years).
I cannot do better than quote the blurb on the DVD cover:
“An intense story, set largely in one prison cell in an unnamed Latin Amerian country, Luis Molina and Valentin Arregui are cell mates and poles apart. Luis is a camp gay man who escapes his grim conditions in a cinematic fantasy, telling a glamorous story of forbidden wartime romance. Valentin, on the other hand, is a revolutionary firebrand, tortured by the authorities but steadfast to his cause.
But through their hardship and the escapism of Luis's storytelling, they come to understand and respect each other. A bond develops and the consequences for both of them are as romantic and tragic as Luis's tale”.
Luis, on his release from prison, sacrifices his life for Valentin's political cause.
I must seek out the novel by Manuel Puig on which the film is based.
In the film Luis is played by William Hurt. I have not seen such brilliant acting since seeing Billie Whitelaw's performance in Samuel Beckett's own direction, at the end of his life, of his play Happy Days.
I cannot do better than quote the blurb on the DVD cover:
“An intense story, set largely in one prison cell in an unnamed Latin Amerian country, Luis Molina and Valentin Arregui are cell mates and poles apart. Luis is a camp gay man who escapes his grim conditions in a cinematic fantasy, telling a glamorous story of forbidden wartime romance. Valentin, on the other hand, is a revolutionary firebrand, tortured by the authorities but steadfast to his cause.
But through their hardship and the escapism of Luis's storytelling, they come to understand and respect each other. A bond develops and the consequences for both of them are as romantic and tragic as Luis's tale”.
Luis, on his release from prison, sacrifices his life for Valentin's political cause.
I must seek out the novel by Manuel Puig on which the film is based.
In the film Luis is played by William Hurt. I have not seen such brilliant acting since seeing Billie Whitelaw's performance in Samuel Beckett's own direction, at the end of his life, of his play Happy Days.