An interestingly designed but inescapably pointless film.
Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus (2006)
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work ![]()
Reviews Counted:108
Fresh:33
Rotten:75
Average Rating:4.9/10
Consensus: This portrait of a groundbreaking photographer lacks the daring of its subject.
Rated: 15 [See Full Rating] for graphic nudity, some sexuality and language.
Runtime: 2 hrs 2 mins
Genre: Dramas
Theatrical Release:16-03-2007
Synopsis: Was Diane Arbus a brilliant innovator whose photographs captured the beauty in the most desperate of subjects? Or was she an exploiter of "freaks," shilling pictures of the deformed as a modern-day... Was Diane Arbus a brilliant innovator whose photographs captured the beauty in the most desperate of subjects? Or was she an exploiter of "freaks," shilling pictures of the deformed as a modern-day sideshow? Regardless of where one stands on her work, few can argue its impact on the art world. In FUR: AN IMAGINARY PORTRAIT OF DIANE ARBUS, director Steven Shainberg makes a bold first attempt at bringing the artist to the big screen. The film opens with Arbus (Nicole Kidman) living as a depressed housewife in a ritzy Park Avenue apartment. Assisting her husband Allen (Ty Burrell) in his photography studio, Arbus helps him shoot ads for women's magazines. One night, after spying her mysterious next door neighbor--a sharply dressed man with a hood over his face--Arbus decides to heed her husband's advice to step out and take some photos of her own. She climbs the stairs to her neighbor's apartment with the intention of taking his portrait, and there she meets Lionel (Robert Downey, Jr.). Lionel suffers from hypertrichosis, a disease that causes thick hair to grow over every inch of his body, including his face. He and Arbus strike up a flirtatious friendship, and he introduces her to the underworld of New York. They party with dwarves, dominatrixes, and circus performers--all future subjects of Arbus photographs. Arbus's marriage soon begins to fall apart, and her relationship with Lionel builds towards a traumatic, but transformative, end. In an unusual twist, screenwriter Erin Cressida Wilson has completely fabricated the character of Lionel, and his ensuing effect on Arbus. He is Wilson's fantastical idea of what might have spurred Arbus's metamorphosis from repressed housewife to daring documentarian of those living on the fringe. As the title states, this isn't a biopic--it's an "imaginary portrait," and while some might take exception to FUR's surreal spin on reality, others might find the unconventional film a fitting tribute to the always unconventional artist. [More]
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Robert Downey, Ty Burrell, Jane Alexander
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Robert Downey, Ty Burrell, Jane Alexander, Emily Bergl, Boris McGiver, Christina Rouner, Harris Yulin
Director: Steven Shainberg
Director: Steven Shainberg
Producer: William Pohlad, Laura Bickford, Bonnie Timmermann, Andrew Fierberg
Composer: Carter Burwell
Studio: New Line Cinema
Reviews for Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus
Kidman and Downey Jr’s moving performances more than make up for the film’s daft script.
Kidman delivers another standout performance, transparent and magnetic. Burrell is no match for Downey’s hypnotic beast. The hairy romantic chemistry with Kidman is electric, the context inspired.
While Steven Shainberg and his collaborators should be congratulated for eschewing the traditional biopic route, Fur is a noble experiment that goes awry. Sad to say but this is not a film for anyone wishing to learn about Diane Arbus.
Stylish, imaginative and beautifully directed, this is a slow-moving but utterly mesmerising drama with terrific performances from Kidman and Downey Jnr.
These are themes that everyone can identify with, especially when they're expressed with such intelligence and artistry.
Kidman wades in over her depth in this genuinely odd but disappointingly flat attempt to recast a biopic as a fairytale.
Certainly the film isn't without its flaws. Then again, perfection is in the eye of beholder.
[The] film illuminates Arbus’ artistically brilliant, emotionally unstable life for no longer than the popping of a flash bulb.
Far-out touches and liberal application of metaphor are compensated for by intensity and two mesmerising performances.
Director Steven Shainberg's long awaited follow-up to his groundbreaking film "Secretary" (2002) is an anti-biopic that dares to read between the lines of its subject's life rather than replay the common knowledge events of photographer Diane Arbus' life.
Nicole Kidman is superb as the woman who blooms and goes a trifle mad at the touch of this other world inhabited by Lionel, and Robert Downey Jnr is the perfect actor for the role.
Una película diferente y para nada complaciente con el espectador, que permite aproximarse a una de las artistas más influyentes del siglo XX.
If the filmmakers are telling us that Diane's artistic creativity was unleashed by the love of a good freak, then it's a shame. To turn a story so full of good intentions at the beginning into another movie about a woman who is liberated from the chains
Depois do surpreendente Secretária, que brilhava por sua enganosa despretensão, Shainberg tropeça ao encantar-se mais com a própria ambição artística do que com as brilhantes realizações de sua suposta biografada.
The idea of growth as metaphor truly runs wild in Fur, until the thicketry of meaning and subtext becomes more dense than meaningful, and your attention is stopped, finally, at the surface of Nicole Kidman's placid full moon of a face.
More DVDs
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 36% 36% | G.I. Joe: The Rise of … |
| 52% 52% | The Taking of Pelham 1… |
| 45% 45% | Ice Age: Dawn of the D… |
| 19% 19% | Transformers: Revenge … |
| 55% 55% | Orphan |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 98% 98% | Up |
| 88% 88% | Ballast |
| 66% 66% | The Merry Gentleman |
| 56% 56% | Enlighten Up! |
| 12% 12% | Spread |
What’s Hot On RT
Other News
Sponsored Links
Around The Network
- Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus at Rotten Tomatoes
- Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus at IGN
Fresh Links
Featured

Subscribe to RT's YouTube channel and don't miss a second of our cracking video content.

Follow Rotten Tomatoes and join us as we tweet about the week's releases.



Top Critic

