'' is a
1985 film which tells the story of two men in an
Argentine prison during the 1970s
Military Government — one a
Political Prisoner , the other in prison for his
Homosexuality — who learn to respect each other. It stars
William Hurt ,
Raúl Juliá and
Sonia Braga .
The movie was adapted by
Leonard Schrader from the novel (''El beso de la mujer araña'') by
Manuel Puig and it was directed by
Hector Babenco .
The story is a "movie within a movie," featuring Hurt episodically telling Juliá the plot of the movie "Kiss of the Spider Woman" made in Germany during the Second World War, sc. by the Nazis. Unlike most such internal presentations, it doesn't matter how the "movie within the movie" ends; the plot is what happens to the prisoners.
William Hurt won the
Academy Award For Best Actor for his role, and the film was also nominated for
Best Director ,
Best Picture and
Best Writing, Screenplay Based On Material From Another Medium .
A
Musical with the same title, also based on Puig's novel, was written by
John Kander and
Fred Ebb with book by
Terrence McNally . It opened on
Broadway on
May 3 ,
1993 , played 904 performances, and initially starred
Brent Carver , Anthony Crivello and
Chita Rivera .
