“Kiss of the Spider Woman” Has Had Its Day

Kiss of the Spider Woman (Bill Condon, 2025) 1½ out of 5 stars

Published in 1976, the novel Kiss of the Spider Woman, by Argentine writer Manuel Puig, was first adapted (by the author) to another medium—a stage play—in 1983. Then, in 1985, Brazilian director Hector Babenco made a film of it, winning an Oscar for lead actor William Hurt in the process. Since then, it opened as a Broadway musical (in 1993) and inspired an episode of the CW series Katy Keene. Now in 2025, the narrative—an adaptation of the musical—returns to screens, helmed by Bill Condon (Beauty and the Beast).

Starring Jennifer Lopez (Marry Me), Diego Luna (Disney+’ Andor series), and Tonatiuh (the Hidden Canyons“micro-series”), the movie is not short on acting talent, something the performers make sure to let us know in every shot. As urgent as their emotional expressions of joy and sadness may be, however, they are nevertheless overshadowed by the mise-en-scène. Overwrought and overdone, Kiss of the Spider Woman is all spectacle and no substance, an exercise in trivialization of subject that is impressive in its consistent misapplication of resources. Also, could we stop, now and forever, the tradition of making Hollywood product where people speak accented English to indicate that they are actually speaking a foreign language within? Just have them speak Spanish and subtitle it. Thanks!

Set in Argentina in 1983 during the last days of its military dictatorship (the 1985 version shifted location to Brazil), the narrative gives us two central characters, Valentin (Luna) and Molina (Tonatiuh), the former a political prisoner and the latter in jail for sexual crimes (he’s gay and guilty only by virtue of his sexuality). As the story begins, Molina becomes Valentin’s cellmate through the manipulative actions of the warden, who hopes the change might deliver useful intelligence to find rebels and further squash dissent. For Molina, we quickly learn, has been asked to spy on Valentin and pump him for information.

Since Valentin is hardly forthcoming, Molina decides to just be himself and see what happens. At first it’s not easy, since despite his progressive inclinations Valentin expresses some casual homophobia, though otherwise is friendly enough. To pass the time, Molina launches into a lengthy retelling of his favorite musical film, “The Kiss of the Spider Woman,” in which his idol, diva Ingrid Luna (Lopez) plays the lead. Thereafter, we cut between his dramatically narrated reenactments—with the actors in the original movie replaced by Molina and Valentin—and the growing closeness of the cellmates, as well as to the interactions of the warden and Molina.

The original book was no doubt boundary-pushing for its time, humanizing as it does its gay character and allowing him full agency to fall in love and take actions far beyond his apolitical comfort zone. But in 2025, much of this Kiss of the Spider Woman feels like a throwback, and not in a good way, with Tonatiuh leaning into flamboyant stereotypes. He and Lopez engage in a lively, though largely trite, battle over who can be the bigger screen queen. Luna, by comparison, looks stiff (it’s worse when he sings), and not just because he eventually succumbs to Tonatiuh’s charms. 

For this is a love story with revolution as the backdrop. In theory, this should work, but somehow it’s mostly a tired mess (and please don’t ask me to explain the plot of the “Kiss of the Spider Woman” movie-within-the-movie), weighed down by excess. There are some occasionally insightful comparisons to fascism today, but that notwithstanding, it’s clear that not every bit of intellectual property should be recycled time and again. Maybe we should kiss this one goodbye.

Christopher Llewellyn Reed

Chris Reed is the editor of Film Festival Today. A member of both the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) and the Washington DC Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA), and a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic, Chris is, in addition, lead film critic at Hammer to Nail and the author of Film Editing: Theory and Practice.