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FUR Send This Review to a Friend
The makers of “Fur” have done something admirably daring. Instead of trying to do an overview of the life and talent of photographer Diane Arbus, they have opted for an imaginary portrait that attempts to capture through one bizarre situation what drove her to want to take pictures of society’s oddest characters. The strange single relationship that is depicted, even though thoroughly fictional, is meant to give insight into the whole of her compulsions and work. Some may find the film off-putting, but for me it is fascinating and compelling.
Of course, when you have Nicole Kidman playing Arbus that is a powerful starter. Kidman is mesmerizing on screen no matter whom she is portraying. Here one begins to read Arbus’ psyche into her expressions, whether a look of hesitation or a knowing smile.
The person Arbus fixates on in her awakened desire to take photographs is a neighbor named Lionel, who is a freak—a man whose body is covered with hair, as if he were a step in evolution. Robert Downey, Jr. plays him, hirsute in a hair suit, or whatever method was used to make him thoroughly shaggy.
Once Arbus meets Lionel, she is swept up in a compulsion. At first she is reticent, but gradually she becomes deeply attracted to both the man and the affliction. Downey gives a sensitive portrayal, his eyes peering through the hair on his face and the quiet, sensual demands he makes with increasing insistence. Arbus is increasingly estranged from her husband and children as she embarks upon her journey that would eventually bring her recognition and fame. The film doesn’t deal with her suicide in 1971 at the age of 48. But we see potential tragedy in the making, especially when she accompanies Lionel in his determination to end his life.
The most sensual scene in the film involves Arbus meeting Lionel’s demands that she shave him, and each stroke of the razor as she removes his body hair carries with it implicit sexuality.
“Fur” has been directed by Steven Shainberg, who made the provocative film “Secretary.” Erin Cressida Wilson’s screenplay is partly based on the 1984 book “Diane Arbus: A Biography” by Patricia Bosworth, who is a co-producer along with William Pohlad, Laura Bickford, Bonnie Timmerman and Andrew Fierberg. Edward Pressman, Alessandro Camon and Michael Roban are executive producers.
The path taken by this film to understand an artist is an unusual one, but it works if one becomes immersed in Arbus’ world. By the way, the title is apt not only because of the man covered with hair. Arbus was the daughter of famous retail furriers who owned Russek’s. Her parents are played by Harris Yulin and Jane Alexander, her husband by Ty Burrell. A Picturehouse release.
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