Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus - R

Biopic is smart, but leaves questions unanswered.

Rating: R for graphic nudity, some sexuality and language. Studio: Picturehouse Directed By: Steven Shainberg Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Nicole Kidman, Ty Burrell Running Time: 120 minutes Release Date: 11/10/2006 Genre: Drama

Common Sense Note

Parents need to know that this mature biopic about edgy photographer Diane Arbus isn't for kids. It includes explicit nudity (body parts and full frontal at a nudist community), and some sexual activity. The subjects of Arbus' photos include unusual fringe characters like sex workers, dwarfs, giants, twins, and nudists. Characters discuss adultery, depression, sexual desire, and suicide (one character kills himself); children worry about their mother's absences from home. Characters smoke cigarettes and do plenty of social drinking. Language includes at least five uses of "f--k."

Families can discuss Diane's increasing distance from her family as she discovers her art. How does the movie suggest that her conventional existence -- as wife, mother, and assistant in her husband's business -- stifles her creativity? How does Diane learn about herself by meeting people outside her usual frame of reference? What purpose does introducing a fictional character (Lionel) into a biography serve? Why is it important to be able to express yourself creatively? What are your creative outlets?

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Common Sense Review

Reviewed By: Cynthia Fuchs

Unusual and sometimes disturbing, FUR: AN IMAGINARY PORTRAIT OF DIANE ARBUS doesn't so much show the photographer's life as imagine how she experienced it. Inspired by Patricia Bosworth's Diane Arbus: A Biography, this is a risky project, interpreting instead of reporting biographical events, and it will trouble some viewers for taking such artistic and emotional license.

Diane (Nicole Kidman) first appears in the film as her husband's careful, quiet assistant, seemingly fragile but filled with a steely resolve to challenge herself. Allan Arbus (Ty Burell) is a dedicated fashion photographer who's slightly older than his wife and not much given to self-examination. Though Diane and Allan share a sweet bedtime ritual of sharing "secrets," they're clearly growing apart, as she wants to do more with the camera than change lenses and load film.

At this point the movie introduces the means of Diane's transformation, a fictional neighbor named Lionel ( Robert Downey, Jr.). Covered from head to foot in fur, he dares her to imagine another sort of life, one more sensual, more original, and less bound by convention.

The fact that Diane's father (Harris Yulin) is a famous New York furrier informs this detail of Lionel's characterization; he embodies Diane's simultaneous feelings of connection and rejection toward her past. Intrigued when Lionel invites her to meet his friends -- a cellist without arms, a prostitute, a giant, and other folks who work as circus "freaks" -- Diane stops attending to her usual '50s housewife routines and starts listening to jazz, leaving her hair uncombed, and working with her Rolleiflex (the boxy camera she used during her career).

Fur suggests that Diane's changed attitude affects her family, alarming her two children and disappointing her imperious mother (Jane Alexander), who advises her to stay home and "be a little portrait photographer." But the main focus is on Diane's imaginary romance with Lionel, which represents the next step she takes -- to become a professional photographer on her own.

A passionate, earnest film braced by Kidman's taut performance, Fur keeps its distance from its subject. The central questions of her work -- What is her relationship with her subjects? Are her famous portraits of "freaks" exploitative or self-exploratory, images of deep relationships between subject and artist, or ways to distance them from their viewers? -- remain unanswered.

Fans might also enjoy other movie biographies of artists, including Frida, The Hours, and Basquiat.

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Content		CS	adults	kids
Content
Sexual Content Pervasive metaphorical and explicit sexuality; full-frontal nudity in first and last scenes (set in a nudist camp); repressed/early Diane reveals her bra on her porch, then worries about it; several scenes show Diane and her husband in bed. (They're intimate but strained: When she licks his wrist, he's embarrassed and pulls away.) Sex between Diane and Lionel (in bed, and also, more allusively, as she shaves off his fur); Lionel asks Diane provocative questions about her desires; mild S&M scene (couple dances, in costume); sensual visuals of fur and some objects (camera, razor).
Violence A character commits suicide.
Language Some language: "f--k" (5+), "t-ts," "Jesus Christ!"
Message
	Social Behavior Diane's attraction to Lionel leads to an adulterous night and rejection of her family.
	Commercialism Vintage magazine covers (Vogue, Harper's Bazaar); 1950s products (Chock Full o' Nuts coffee, Sunbeam bread) -- all used to establish scene/era, rather than for promotion, per se.
	Drug/Alcohol/Tobacco Plenty of social drinking (martinis, wine, scotch); cigarette smoking.