Fur - Un ritratto immaginario di Diane Arbus

I actually admired the extreme lengths to which the film's creator went in exercising his freedom of artistic licensing in this totally fantastical and imaginative version- fictionalising the source of inspiration behind Ms Arbus's consequent journey into developing her art; to many it may suggest indulging ones-self to the extreme at the risk of inflaming the passions of her loyal fans, I can empathise with those hardcore admirers who were eagerly anticipating an homage to her life and work as the film must have been a source of immense disappointment, bearing very little resemblance to the physical or biographical realities of Ms Arbus and her life...though the title clearly alludes to the fact that this was never the intention. I really enjoyed the film, Nicole Kidman never fails to deliver and visually it was an absolute feast of colour, subtle surrealism, atmosphere and even humour albeit poignant and dark at times.

I particularly liked the harmonious balance in tempo, and rhythm as the story unravels, the subtle and sensitive balance between humour and tragedy, the exploration of the complexity of intimate relationships, the need to find ones own path or destiny however painful and incongruent that journey may be- with social expectation, preconceived values or personal responsibility.

The biographical inaccuracies seem insignificant within the greater framework and although I was hitherto unfamiliar with the specifics of Ms Arbus's life, I still felt that valid insight was gained into the perplexing struggles endured by this artist searching to become true to herself amidst the parental social/emotional pressures and expectations. I was able to recognise an unconfident and yet courageous and strong, empathetic, sensitive woman, uniquely lacking in prejudice given the era and social background from which she came. For the open-minded viewer who appreciates the complexities of life, it is a thought provoking and challenging story which does not stray unforgivably far from a kind of truth.

In 1958, in New York City, the upper class Diane Arbus (Nicole Kidman) is a frustrated and lonely woman with a conventional marriage with two daughters. Her husband is a photographer sponsored by the wealthy parents of Diane, and she works as his assistant. When Lionel Sweeney (Robert Downey Jr.), a mysterious man with hypertrichosis (a.k.a. werewolf syndrome, a disease that causes excessive body hair), comes to live in the apartment in the upper floor, Diane feels a great attraction for him and is introduced to the world of freaks and marginalized people, falling in love for Lionel.

"Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus" is a weird movie, actually a bizarre romance with characters that recall "The Beauty and the Beast". Nicole Kidman is impressively beautiful and gives an awesome performance together with Robert Downey Jr. The director Steven Shainberg from "Secretary" presents another unconventional love story – probably his favorite theme. While I loved "Secretary", a love story between a masochist and a sadistic, I did not like the idea of a "pseudo-biography" of a real woman disclosed in "Fur". I have never heard anything about the photographer Diane Arbus, but I believe that if she was my ancestral, I would not like to see in the movie theaters or on DVD an "imaginary portrait" of her. If this romance is not true or biographical, in my opinion the screenplay should have considered a fictional character. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "A Pele" ("The Fur")

Being lucky enough to have a free pass for the press this morning I attended the press screening of this film at the Roma Film Festival, which opened today. I would like to share some thoughts. First of all, this is far from being a biographical account of the photographer Diane Arbus. The film, with shows not a single of her works, just covers the few key months in which Arbus discovered to be an artist, leaving her well-to-do environment. One day ante litteram desperate housewife Arbus, married with the mild mannered advertising photographer Allan, looking outside the window sees Lionel, their new neighbour: this is the beginning of the most unusual of love stories, around which the whole film revolves. Lionel, which is an entirely fictional character, suffers from ipertrichosis, a pathological condition which makes his body and his face completely covered with hair. Lionel helps Arbus to discover herself and introduce her to the world of the freaks, like himself is, which would be the subject of most of her work. The title of the film states it is an imaginary portrait of the artist. It's more like a wild fantasy loosely inspired to her figure. Kidman's performance is good, but not mind-blowing. Robert Downey Jr.'s is more interesting: with his face completely covered with hair he manage to create a rather intriguing character, acting just with his eyes and his beautiful voice. I must say that after the screening the press audience was pretty harsh with the film. It's not really a BAD movie, one can say that in its way it has also a kind of weird charm. Steven Shainberg's direction is creative and interesting. Still, the film has many very weak points. There are really A LOT of unintentionally funny things, first of all the striking resemblance between Robert Downey Jr.'s character and Star Wars hairy fellow Chewbacca. Two or there meant to be serious lines made the audience (and me) laugh out loud. A few scenes were nearly ridiculous. If you are a fan of Kidman or Downey Jr. you can give a chance to this film: don't expect a serious work about Diane Arbus, but rather a very strange dream, and maybe you'll enjoy it. 6/10

There is not a great deal I feel I can say about this film, except that it is one of the strangest and most surreal film I have ever seen.

It was a film which made me constantly want to reach for the 'Off Button' on my remote but at the same time I felt compelled to continue watching it.

In the end I did see the whole film and was glad that I did.

I cannot 'hand on heart' recommend Fur..... as I feel it is one of those films that we simply love or hate. However in my case I simply can't decide and I feel I shall have to watch it again in order to decide which way I feel.

If you like surreal and/or the actors, give the film a viewing, thats the only way to decide how you personally feel.

Plutus

I would be delighted if the Arbus estate, after having seen this film, commission a film called "The True Life of Diane Arbus" with an ending in the same vein as the film portrait of Sylvia Plath.

My feeling, and it is only that, Ms Arbus was never timid in her photography of people. Nor were the people on the fringe of society organised in the way the film suggests they were.

If you like lingering shots of Ms Kidman and enjoy bubblegum for the eyes then do go and see it. If, on the other hand, and that was my motive for going to see the film, you wish to learn more about a talented photographer of worth, then your cinema ticket price might be better spent on a book about Diane Arbus.