Kiss of the Spider Woman (film)
| Kiss of the Spider Woman | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Héctor Babenco |
| Produced by | Francisco Ramalho Jr. David Weisman |
| Screenplay by | Leonard Schrader |
| Based on |
Kiss of the Spider Woman by Manuel Puig |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Nando Carneiro John Neschling |
| Cinematography | Rodolfo Sánchez |
| Edited by | Mauro Alice |
| Distributed by |
Embrafilme (Brazil) Island Alive FilmDallas Pictures (US) |
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Release date
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Running time
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121 minutes |
| Country | Brazil United States |
| Language |
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| Box office | $17,005,229 |
Kiss of the Spider Woman (Portuguese: O Beijo da Mulher-Aranha) is a 1985 Brazilian-American drama film directed by Argentine-born Brazilian director Héctor Babenco, and adapted by Leonard Schrader from the Manuel Puig novel of the same name. William Hurt, Raúl Juliá, Sônia Braga, José Lewgoy, and Milton Gonçalves star in the leading roles.
The film tells of two very different men who share a prison cell in Brazil during the Brazilian military government: Valentin Arregui, who is imprisoned (and has been tortured) due to his activities on behalf of a leftist revolutionary group, and Luis Molina, a pederast in prison for having sex with an underage boy.
Molina passes the time by recounting memories from one of his favorite films, a wartime romantic thriller that's also a Nazi propaganda film. He weaves the characters into a narrative meant to comfort Arregui and distract him from the harsh realities of political imprisonment and the separation from his lover, Marta. Arregui allows Molina to penetrate some of his defensive self and opens up. Despite Arregui occasionally snapping at Molina over his rather shallow views of political cinema, an unlikely friendship develops between the two.
As the story develops, it becomes clear that Arregui is being poisoned by his jailers to provide Molina with a chance to befriend him, and that Molina is spying on Arregui on behalf of the Brazilian secret police. Molina has namely been promised a parole if he succeeds in obtaining information that will allow the secret police to find the revolutionary group's members.
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