The pains and paintings of Frida Kahlo, reanimated

FRIDA KAHLO'S EARLY 1940s self-portraits, in which monkeys hang from her neck, may seem playful. In reality, she painted them during a suffocating period when she was tangled in a messy divorce and desperate for work.

- COLIVIA B. WAXMAN

Frida, a new documentary produced by TIME Studios and directed by Carla Gutierrez, explores how the Mexican painter channeled personal tragedies into her art, creating the vibrant surrealist paintings that made her an icon. The film brings those paintings to life through an inventive blend of animation, archival footage, and personal writings, billing itself as the first documentary to be told entirely through her own words and those of her intimates. Letters and diary excerpts read in voiceover put Kahlo's sharp tongue on f