The movie "Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus," starring Nicole Kidman and Robert Downey Jr., is cinematically pretty complicated, so it seems valid to start off by saying a little about who Diane Arbus was and why her life and work are important enough to justify a major motion picture. Briefly put, Arbus was a 20th century gonzo-photojournalist, famous for immersing herself in the subject matter of her pictures and focusing on the stories and images of people, who, because of their physical characteristics or social exclusion, were not a part modern America's "mainstream" culture.
Now, just to make things a bit more complicated, this movie about her life is not really about her life. As the title suggests, it's an "imaginary portrait" of someone who took unimaginary pictures of other people; there's even a disclaimer at the start of the film that officiously and rather strangely explains this to the audience. Of course, while actually watching the film, so many of its elements are so incredibly bizarre that it would be hard to assume that many of the characters and events were not created, fabricated or, as they call it, imaginary.
To be sure, though, the overbearing framework of the film and of Arbus's life is essentially accurate. She was, in reality and in the film, born into a wealthy New York family; she was, in reality and in the film, the assistant of her photographer husband Allan Arbus, who taught her how to take pictures; and she was, additionally, a profoundly socially frustrated woman, who was tired with her role as simply a mother and a wife.
The film starts as Diane (Kidman) begins to show an interest in taking her own photos, rather than just helping her husband take his. Diane (pronounced Dee-Ann) tells her husband that she wants to take photos of their neighbors, though in reality she wants to just take pictures of their newest neighbor, Lionel Sweeney (Downey Jr.).
After all, he arrived at their building covered in a cheap-looking face mask, and rumor has it, he keeps a circus-style colored chair in the basement - who wouldn't want to see what was up with this guy? After Arbus arranges a portrait session with Lionel, she lets herself into his dark, cavernous apartment, where she finds pictures on the walls of people who could have (or maybe did) appear in P.T. Barnum's infamous "freak shows." The unmasked Lionel, it turns out, is covered completely in fur.
This, obviously, is where the movie gets a bit strange. On one hand, the film evokes sympathy for Lionel, since his physical appearance must have created some hairy life experiences. But it's hard to take his suffering seriously when, to be frank, he looks like a Wookie and the disease that produced his appearance doesn't actually exist. The way to get over this aspect of the film is to tell yourself that it's the writers' way of winking at you, reminding you that this is, indeed, an imaginary telling of a real life.
After all, the movie is not supposed to be a parody (it has far too many dramatic elements and complexity for that), and there is a profundity of other self-conscious directorial aspects of the film. Various layers of viewership within the movie further promote the idea that the movie is more like a movie about a movie, and that many of its elements are not meant to be taken seriously.
As Diane and Lionel get to know each other and appreciate the inner angst they both share about not fitting into society, they form a partnership that has a strong sexual tension and a deep emotional connection. At one point, when Diane describes some of her more eccentric activities, Lionel tells her she's "a real freak," which highlights the fact that the characters' shared misfit feeling allows them to be more comfortable with themselves. As Diane finds that she would rather spend time with Lionel than with her own husband, she must choose not just between two men in her life, but between a life that is unique and challenging or one that is structured and unoriginal.
There is so much to be said about the nuances of "Fur" that it might be easy to overlook the performaces of the movie's two stars. But both Nicole Kidman and Robert Downey Jr. give absolutely amazing performances in the film. Kidman is entirely convincing as an artistic intellectual - an impressive feat coming off her last feature film, "Bewitched" (2005). In "Fur," Downey also shows himself to be an incredibly sophisticated actor who can present himself as a character with intense complexity.
"Fur" is certainly a bizarre film, but it's a great one, too, if viewing it is approached with the right mindset. It's original, and it's unusual in terms of multiplex fare. To that extent, this "Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus" is representative of something Diane Arbus might actually have photographed.
