The most explosive love story of Mexican art comes to streaming
Prepare for another journey into the heart of creative chaos. Netflix is developing “The Dove and the Elephant”, a series that will put the volatile relationship between Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera under the microscope.
Directors Patricia Riggen (“The Same Moon”) and Gabriel Ripstein (“Lies”) are at the helm of the project. The production will be in charge of Mónica Lozano, who has credits such as “No returns accepted”.
According to the official statement, the series will not be a simple historical account. It promises something juicier:
“It tells the story of a woman who refuses to be just a muse and decides to tell her own version of pain, and that of a man who tries to sustain his creative genius in the face of his contradictions.”
Basically, they will immerse us in how that relationship became a battlefield with an audience. Love, art, betrayal and a lot of drama in post-revolutionary Mexico.
A casting to be defined and a long film history
There is still no date to start filming nor have the actors who will give life to these icons been announced. Choosing who plays Frida is, without a doubt, the casting of the year.
Kahlo beats Rivera in film adaptations. From “Frida, nature alive” (1983) with Ofelia Medina, to Salma Hayek’s Oscar-nominated role in 2002. She even had a French animated film (“Hello Frida!”) and a recent documentary in 2024.
Rivera has had less luck on screen. This series could be their time to shine… or for them to show all their contradictions.
The truth is that Riggen and Ripstein have experience mixing real facts with fiction. She directed “The 33” (the Chilean miners) and he was behind “A Strange Enemy”, about Mexican politics in the 70s and 80s.
So prepare the popcorn. Soon we will have a new version of the most turbulent, passionate and inspiring marriage in Latin American art. Let’s just hope they do justice to the myth.
