The 1985 film adaptation of Kiss of the Spider woman is not a great one; in fact I completely disliked it. Something is lost in the translation from literature to film, in this film however what is lost is too great to look past. Director Hector Babenco took a risk in bringing the fiction novel to the big screen, as I stated before the novel has a completely different approach at narrating the story from point A to point B with only dialogue. The movie did not convey this method of narration even if for the most part all we saw was the men in the cell talking.
The character of Molina guides the movie in its entirety; in fact the only character that stands out in the film is Molina’s. This was a great fault as both characters in the novel were supposed to be equally as passionate even while being exact opposites. Valentin’s character is too passive and not aggressive enough to convey the image of a revolutionary leader. At times the movie is too theatrical, in other words corny. The actors were too dramatic when the novel was not a dramatic novel. Even so, you should watch the movie just for the sake of watching it the novel is a complicated one to follow, as the use of dialogue is the guiding light in the narrative. Perhaps it is this that kept the movie from being a great one.
I agree with what you say about the performances. I would also add that Valentin is watered down into a well-meaning (also politically naive?) journalist instead of the Marxist activist he is in the novel.
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