Yesterday I watched a T.V. Movie Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus. My interest in photography and the actress Nicole Kidman and actor Robert Downey Jr. drew me to the movie that had not crossed my path before. Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus (also known simply as Fur) is a 2006 movie starring Nicole Kidman as iconic American photographer Diane Arbus, who was known for her strange, disturbing images.
For the film, director Steven Shainberg and screenwriter Erin Cressida Wilson, used Patricia Bosworth's book Diane Arbus: A Biography as a source. As its name implies, the film is a fictional account rather than an accurate biography. In the movie Arbus is torn between a bizarre relationship with a neighbour suffering from hypertrichosis, Lionel Sweeney (Robert Downey, Jr.), and a conventional life with her husband Allan (Ty Burrell), a photographer. A clogged drain leads to a meeting with Lionel.
Turning her back on her wealthy, established family, Diane Arbus (Kidman) falls in love with Lionel Sweeney (Downey Jr.), an enigmatic mentor who introduces Arbus to the marginalized people who help her become a most revered photographer.
I enjoyed the movie. After checking out her photography later I didn't rate it very highly as I feel she photographed people in a way to make their differences stand out (stage-managing a grotesque caricature) rather than depicting them as the wonderful people they were coping with the conformity of what society expects. Robert Downey Jr. was very good as the strange seducer and made me smile and feel compassion in equal measure.
For the film, director Steven Shainberg and screenwriter Erin Cressida Wilson, used Patricia Bosworth's book Diane Arbus: A Biography as a source. As its name implies, the film is a fictional account rather than an accurate biography. In the movie Arbus is torn between a bizarre relationship with a neighbour suffering from hypertrichosis, Lionel Sweeney (Robert Downey, Jr.), and a conventional life with her husband Allan (Ty Burrell), a photographer. A clogged drain leads to a meeting with Lionel.
Turning her back on her wealthy, established family, Diane Arbus (Kidman) falls in love with Lionel Sweeney (Downey Jr.), an enigmatic mentor who introduces Arbus to the marginalized people who help her become a most revered photographer.
I enjoyed the movie. After checking out her photography later I didn't rate it very highly as I feel she photographed people in a way to make their differences stand out (stage-managing a grotesque caricature) rather than depicting them as the wonderful people they were coping with the conformity of what society expects. Robert Downey Jr. was very good as the strange seducer and made me smile and feel compassion in equal measure.
