YMMV / Frida

• Award Snub: Salma Hayek delivered one of her best performances, but lost out on the Best Actress Oscar due to Award Category Fraud - the win went to Nicole Kidman for The Hours, even though she had less screen time than Julianne Moore, who was up for Best Supporting Actress for the same film. The film was unfortunately a victim of Harvey Weinstein's campaigning - where he favoured The Hours, Gangs of New York and Chicago above this one, allegedly due to the actress turning down his repeated advances during filming (and she and director Julie Taymor complained in the press how little promotion the film was getting from its distributor).
• Common Knowledge: Salma Hayek was sometimes touted as the first Latina to be nominated for Best Actress at the Academy Awards. She wasn't - that honour went to Fernanda Montenegro, who was nominated for Central Station three years previously. Part of the confusion may stem on not knowing the differences between Latina and Hispanic - Fernanda Montenegro as a Brazilian would be Latina but not Hispanic^note Which means from a Spanish speaking country or culture. and so Salma Hayek would be the first Hispanic nominee.
• Harsher in Hindsight: The sex scene between Frida and Josephine Baker is nigh impossible to watch now knowing, in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse accusations, that Salma Hayek was forced to do it by Weinstein, and she was terrified of doing it. Not that she minded doing such a scene with a woman, but the fact that it was done specifically to indulge Weinstein's personal fantasies made her feel very gross about it.
• Les Yay: This movie focuses on Frida's bisexuality in a few scenes, though with the exception of her fling with Josephine Baker, does not explicitly show any of the affairs she had with women. Possibly because her husband Diego did not respond as angrily to them?
• Moment of Awesome: Frida attending her first exhibition in her home country in bed, following doctor's orders.
• She Really Can Act: While she had been a star in Mexico, Salma Hayek's filmography up until this point had consisted of blockbusters and Ms. Fanservice roles, with the actress herself admitting she was told that there would be no lead roles for her in Hollywood. Needless to say, people were very impressed with her work as Frida Kahlo.

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