| Director | Julie Taymor |
|---|---|
| Budget | $12 million |
| Box office | $56.3 million |
In 1925, Frida Kahlo suffers a traumatic accident at the age of 18 on board a wooden-bodied bus that collides with a streetcar. Impaled by a metal pole, the injuries she sustains plague her for the rest of her life. To help her through convalescence, her father brings her a canvas to paint on.
Once regaining the ability to walk with a cane, Frida visits muralist Diego Rivera, demanding an honest critique of her paintings. Rivera falls in love with her work, and they begin a dysfunctional relationship. When he proposes, she tells him she expects loyalty from him, if not fidelity. Throughout the marriage, Rivera has affairs with a wide array of women. At the same time, the bisexual Kahlo takes on male and female lovers, including, in one case, the same woman as Rivera.
The couple travels to NYC in 1934, so Rivera may paint the mural Man at the Crossroads, at the behest of the Rockefeller family, inside Rockefeller Center. While living in the US, Kahlo suffers a miscarriage and travels back to Mexico for her mother's funeral. Rivera refuses to compromise his communist vision of the work to the needs of the patron, Nelson Rockefeller; as a result, the mural is destroyed. The pair return to Mexico, with Rivera more reluctant.
Kahlo's sister, Cristina, moves in with them at their San Ángel studio home as Rivera's assistant. Soon afterward, Kahlo discovers Rivera is sleeping with her. Leaving him, she subsequently sinks into alcoholism after moving back to her family's Coyoacán home.
They reunite during a Día de los Muertos celebration where he asks her to welcome and house Leon Trotsky, who has been granted political asylum in Mexico. Trotsky expresses his love for Kahlo's work during an excursion to Teotihuacan, and they begin an affair. Soon, his wife learns of the affair, forcing the couple to leave the safety of Kahlo's home.
Kahlo leaves for Paris when Diego realizes she was unfaithful to him with Trotsky. Rivera had little problem with Kahlo's other affairs, but Trotsky was too important to be intimately involved with his wife. When she returns to Mexico, he asks for a divorce.
In 1940, Trotsky is assassinated in Mexico City. Initially, Rivera is suspected by police of orchestrating the assassination. When they fail to locate him, Kahlo is arrested. Cristina arrives and escorts her out of prison, explaining that Rivera convinced President Cárdenas to release her.
Kahlo has her toes removed when her doctor notices they have become gangrenous. Rivera remorsefully asks her to remarry him, and she agrees. Kahlo's health worsens, leading to the amputation of a leg and bronchopneumonia, which leaves her bedridden. In 1953, Kahlo's bed is carried from her home to a museum to attend her first solo exhibition in her native country.