“”Frida”” is similar to a survey course as opposed to an upper-division class: It illustrates generalities but never manages to get into the meaty details. Director Julie Taymor’s biopic of famed Mexican artist Frida Kahlo explores the ups and downs of her tumultuous life, from her vivid sexuality to her progressive politics to her unique paintings, but the audience can’t really tell what Kahlo (Salma Hayek) is truly feeling.

Kahlo’s life is expressed through her pantings, which often have a sad, depressing tone that match the isolation she felt throughout her life. She dealt with a catastrophic spine injury in a bus accident as a teen, and her injuries continued to haunt her throughout the rest of her life. Kahlo meets and falls in love with fellow artist Diego Rivera (Alfred Molina), despite his tendencies toward philandering.

The film chronicles all the major points of Kahlo’s life, but it doesn’t focus on what spawned her artistic vision. In fact, the film raises more questions than it answers.

Hayek does an admirable job of portraying Kahlo, and even dons a unibrow — a trademark of Kahlo — to capture her character. Throughout her life, Kahlo dealt with an endless amount of tragedies that could tip anyone over into the side of madness. Hayek is able to not only reflect upon those adversities, but to also bring a fierce, fiery self-independence to Kahlo that seems to suit her real life paintings.

Taymor is famous for bringing “”The Lion King”” to Broadway with her artistry and visual flair for puppetry. In the case of “”Frida,”” she is able to merge the artistry of Kahlo into the film with ease and perfect harmony. The film is a showcase of Kahlo’s work, and Taymor does more than just capture her artwork on film; she uses computer effects to blend both work and life into synchronous scenes.

Several other scenes capture Taymor’s artistic vision well, especially the scene depicting doctors operating on Kahlo after her horrific accident. Forget an image of physicians rushing to Kahlo’s aid; imagine a twisted, claymation scene of haunting skeletons working on Kahlo at the hospital and you’ll get a sense of what Taymor’s abilities are.

Despite the good use of artistry, “”Frida”” is a decent film about what was an extraordinary life. But ultimately, it doesn’t discover the true life of Kahlo and her chilling paintings.

Frida

***

Starring Salma Hayek and Alfred Molina

In theaters Nov. 8

Rated R