Kiss of the Spider Woman was originally a 1976 novel by Argentinian writer Manuel Puig. It was later adapted into a film in 1985 and a musical in 1993. And a 1983 play. But that one isn't as well known.
Set in a Banana Republic (Argentina in the novel and musical, Brazil in the film), the story follows the imprisonment of Luis Molina (William Hurt in the film), a trans woman who was caught corrupting a minor, and political prisoner Valentin Arregui (Raúl Juliá in the film), who is part of a leftist revolutionary group trying to overthrow the military dictatorship and is currently being tortured for information.
Molina passes the time by describing her favorite movies: the most prominent (and the only one featured in the film) being a romance story of star-crossed lovers... that also happens to be a Nazi propaganda film. Naturally, the Film Within a Film is draped with metaphors and symbolism relating to the two characters. It is later revealed that Molina was imprisoned with Valentin to spy on him in the hope that he will open up to Molina, using the film as a way of getting him to talk. Just one problem: Molina has fallen in love with Valentin. Cue moral dilemmas, political statements and gay angst.
Has nothing to do with any of the Spider-Woman characters published by Marvel Comics.
The story provides examples of:
- All Love Is Unrequited: Valentin's girlfriend loves Valentin who loves Marta. Molina loves the waiter, and later Valentin, both of whom are straight. Subverted when Valentin agrees to sleep with Molina.
- Banana Republic: The country the story is set innote is a dictatorship that imprisons sexual minorities and “disappears” its political opposition. True to Real Life, in both cases.
- Bring My Brown Pants: Very embarrassingly happens to Valentin after eating poisoned food.
- Bury Your Gays: The trans woman protagonist demonstrates her newfound bravery by accepting a suicide mission to pass a message to political revolutionaries. The same thing occurs in the movie, with the protagonist becoming a homosexual cis man.
- Downer Ending: Molina dies and Arregui continues to be tortured.
- Genre Shift: After Molina is let out on good behavior the novel is told through a series of reports and documents.
- Last-Name Basis: Molina is rarely called Luis. Valentin gets this too by everyone except Molina (see Meaningful Name).
- Meaningful Name: Valentin = Valentine.
- Narm Charm: Molina's second film is an in-universe example. Doubly so since it's a Nazi film.
- Out of the Closet, Into the Fire: The trans protagonist demonstrates her newfound bravery by accepting a suicide mission to pass a message to political revolutionaries. They shoot her, thinking she's working for the government.
- Scary Black Man: The warden's assistant.
- Show Within a Show: Molina's films.
- Speech-Centric Work: Largely in dialogue.
Additionally, the film provides examples of:
- Adaptational Nationality: The film relocates the story from Argentina to Brazil.
- Adaptation Distillation: Only one of Molina's five films from the novel makes it to the film.
- Gender Flip: Molina was a transgender woman in the book, but is a cisgender man now, though there's still some dialogue that implies Molina is trans here too.
- Meaningful Name: The protagonist of the Nazi propaganda film is named Leni.
- Not Even Bothering with the Accent: Neither William Hurt or Raúl Juliá attempt a Brazilian accent.
- Propaganda Piece: In-Universe, the Nazi film Molina is obsessed with naturally counts. It tars all Jews and French Resistance members as horrible people.
- Translation Convention: All dialogue is in English, while text and signage remains in Portuguese. This extends to the "film-within-a-film" segments, where all the French and German characters speak English.
And the musical provides examples of:
- Pragmatic Adaptation: The musical takes even more liberties than the film.
