Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

Kiss of the Spider Woman Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov February 9, 2012

Winner of Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival, Hector Babenco's "Kiss of the Spider Woman" (1985) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of French distributors Carlotta Films. The supplemental features on this release include the film's original theatrical trailer, gallery of stills, short featurette about writer Manuel Puig, and a very informative documentary film. In English, with optional French subtitles. Region-Free.

Luis

The overwhelming majority of the film takes place in a prison cell shared by two very different men -- Valentin (Raul Julia, The Morning After, The Addams Family), a passionate political activist, and Luis (William Hurt, Broadcast News, Body Heat), a homosexual in love with cinema. Early on, the two rarely talk to each other -- Valentin fantasizes about being free and making love to his beautiful lover, while Luis spends his time remembering his favorite films. These are old films about spies, Nazis, and strikingly beautiful women.

Eventually, Luis begins describing the films to Valentin. He likes them. What he does not like are Valentin’s manners, his attitude and style. Before Valentin gets the wrong idea, Luis makes it clear that the two are indeed very –- very –- different.

Gradually, however, the two men warm up to each other and begin to realize that they might have quite a bit more in common than they had initially thought. They talk about their past and begin speculating about their future.

The film takes an unusual turn when Valentin gets sick and Luis’ mother starts bringing him real food and tea. At one point, Valentin even allows Luis to wash his clothes. When he gets better, Luis gives him a heart-shaped box of chocolates.

Based on the novel by Manuel Puig, Brazilian director Hector Babenco’s Kiss of the Spider Woman is a very unusual film. For a while it seems like its focus would be solely on the relationship between two very different men who come to accept each other and their contrasting philosophies of life. Then it slowly becomes clear that their story is part of a much bigger story.

There are certain stereotypes in the film that are used to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the two men. But Babenco does not go overboard with them, which is why the progression of their relationship is so convincing.

A beautiful woman (Sonia Braga, Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands) plays an important role in the lives of the two men – Luis is inspired by an actress whom he remembers from the films that made him fall in love with cinema; Valentin is in love with a woman whom he was forced to abandon.

Ultimately, Kiss of the Spider Woman is about escaping and connecting -- for Luis and Valentin escaping the misery of their lives and connecting in a way that would have not been possible had they met outside of the prison, and for Babenco, temporarily escaping the ugly reality of the ‘lost decade’, the 80’s, which made many people in South America feel just as miserable as Luis and Valentin do in the beginning of the film.

In 1986, Hurt won an Oscar Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, and for once it was an award the Academy gave that was well deserved. He is terrific as the homosexual prisoner who, after spending much of his time remembering and fantasizing, finds a new purpose in life when he befriends his cell-mate. Julia is also very convincing as the passionate and angry political activist who is forced to reevaluate his beliefs.

Cinematographer Rodolfo Sánchez, who also lensed Babenco’s best film, Pixote, has given the film a beautiful dreamy look. The use of light and color inside the prison and during the fantasy sequences where the Spider Woman is seen is very effective.

Kiss of the Spider Woman Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Hector Babenco's Kiss of the Spider Woman arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of French distributors Carlotta Films.

I like the high-definition transfer quite a lot. It is not a recent one -- it was certainly not struck during the last 12-18 months -- but its basics are solid. Detail is consistently good, even during the prison sequences where light is often restricted, clarity pleasing, and contrast levels stable. The color scheme also does not disappoint -- the variety of browns, yellows, blues, and grays are well saturated but natural. Obviously, during the fantasy sequences detail, clarity, contrast, and color reproduction differ as these sequences are intended to look much softer (compare screencaptures #7 and 11 to the rest of the screencaptures we have included with the review). Furthermore, there are no traces of problematic denoising or post-production sharpening. Naturally, there is plenty of well resolved light grain throughout the entire film. This said, there are a few tiny flecks that occasionally pop up here and there that should have been removed. But I did not find them distracting at all. To sum it all up, this a solid presentation of Hector Babenco's film that should please its fans. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray disc. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your PS3 or SA regardless of your geographical location. For the record, there is no problematic PAL or 1080/50i content preceding the disc's main menu).

Kiss of the Spider Woman Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are three audio tracks on this Blu-ray disc: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, English LPCM 2.0, and French LPCM 2.0. For the record, Carlotta Films have provided optional French subtitles for the main feature.

The presence of the two loseless English tracks is a good enough reason to strongly recommend this French release and avoid the very pricy Region-A release of Kiss of the Spider Woman. I personally no longer have the Region-A release in my library precisely because I found the audio to be enormously disappointing. The English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track opens up the film very well. Nando Carneiro and John Neschling's music score benefits the most as now the singing and the string solos are far clearer and richer. The dialog is also crisper. However, occasionally some extremely mild background hiss still pops up here and there. Nevertheless, the upgrade in quality here is substantial.

Kiss of the Spider Woman Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Blu-ray

• Galerie Photos - a collection of stills from the film. (3 min, 1080p).

• Bande-annonce - the original theatrical trailer for the film. In English, with optional French subtitles (2 min, PAL).

• Manuel Puig: Les secrets de la femme araignee - Manuel Puig: Secrets of the Spider Woman is a lovely featurette focusing on writer Manuel Puig and the socio-political climate in Argentina before and after he wrote his famous novel. In English, with optional French subtitles. (10 min, PAL).

DVD

• Tangled Web: Making of Kiss of the Spider Woman - this documentary film takes a look at the production history of Kiss of the Spider Woman. Producer David Weisman's comments about Burt Lancaster, who was initially part of the cast, are particularly interesting. Also included are various interviews with William Hurt, Raul Julia, Sonia Braga, Hector Babenco, Manuel Puig, etc. In English, with optional French subtitles. (103 min, PAL).

Kiss of the Spider Woman Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If you are interested in owning a copy of Hector Babenco's beautiful Kiss of the Spider Woman, I strongly encourage you to consider getting this French Blu-ray release produced by Carlotta Films. It is clearly superior to the U.S. release and, more importantly, Region-Free. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.