A Pele

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")

'Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus' is itself like a beautiful painting. Starting from the photographic visuals, the artistic execution, the use of symbolism and metaphors, the superb camera-work, the incredible performances and stunning art direction, this is one film that is a poetic treat for the viewer. The background score gives voice to the unsaid feelings. Not only is it dazzling to look at, it's thought provoking and a fulfilling cinematic experience.

I loved the use of symbolism and metaphors. Some examples include: The association between the scene where Diane disrobing in the final sequence and the earlier scenes where she dresses up to her neck as part of social etiquette. Then there's the strong contrast between a furry Lionel and the high-classed women who were obsessed with fur and another interesting contrast between Lionel's dark fur and Diane's smooth translucent skin. There are numerous such intriguing symbolism that beautifully stand out. The references to classics like 'Alice in Wonderland' and 'Beauty and the Best' and influences of Hitchcock and Kubrick are obvious and brilliantly used. The visuals too represent a strong ideas. They are not just there for mere beauty. The colour blue plays a key role on multiple levels.

Shainberg's direction is awesome but what I liked most was the way Diane felt more 'at home' with the people who were termed 'freaks' rather than her own family or her husband's social circle. Nicole Kidman is magnificent. Robert Downey Jr. too gives an equally subtle and heartbreaking performance. The two share a very passion-filled chemistry which only stresses on the fascination and attraction that draws Diane and Lionel towards each other. Their quiet love story speaks volumes about their internal desires and strong feelings for one another. I've mostly seen Ty Burrell in comedies like 'Out of Practice' and 'Back To You' but here he shows that he can pull off serious roles as well.

Not only is 'Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus' a plot driven film, it can be watched as a character piece, a mood piece, a love story and a period piece. A film that can be appreciated on so many levels, I fail to understand why it gained so little recognition.

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.

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

Defying biopic clichés and overlapping reality and fantasy - so that the viewer eventually hardly understands what's real and what's not - "Fur" is definitely a provocative movie, not only another version of "The Beauty and the Beast". The odd subject is handled with impeccable effects and a stunning acting, the obvious question is asked by a HUGE metaphor - what's better between a man covered with fur and snobbish people wearing fur? Truly intriguing the film has some stasis moments that prevent it from being excellent, nevertheless it's about an interesting story, certainly worth viewing. Plus it gives a singular and also metaphorical finale showing Kidman removing her clothing along with her "social vestment".