Beauty and the Bizarre:
A Review of "Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus"
Directed by Steven Shainberg
Starring Nicole Kidman and Robert Downey Jr.
I didn't realize, when I went to see this film, that the director was
also responsible for sweetly perverse "Secretary". In retrospect
this makes perfect sense. Both films concern themselves with the
twisted side of humanity, or perhaps, the humanity of kink.
"Fur" chronicles the imaginary but convincing awakening of celebrated
photographer Diane Arbus to her obsessive fascination with the grotesque.
Frustrated and oppressed by her life as a vanilla 1950's housewife,
Diane yearns for something more. She goes through the
motions of daily life, assisting her husband in his photography business,
distractedly caring for her daughters, and enduring the sarcasm
of her wealthy mother. She lies awake next to her adoring but
uncomprehending husband, trying to understand her own dissatisfaction. Her
sharp eyes pick up all the bizarre and disturbing details in her
surroundings that others miss, but she doesn't know what to do
with her observations.
When she catches a glimpse of her new neighbor Lionel (Robert Downney
Jr.), completely masked, she somehow recognizes him as the key to
escaping her suffocating life. He recognizes her as well, recognizes
the brilliant and disturbed creature hiding behind her facade of
conformity. He sends her the key to his apartment through the sewer
pipes, an appropriate metaphor. When she finally dares to climb the
winding stairway to his attic lair, he invites her into his world, a
twilight wonderland peopled by societal outcasts and circus freaks.
Lionel himself is a "beast-man", suffering from a genetic disorder
that causes his whole body to be covered with hair. With his gentle
voice and rude questions, he forces Diane to admit to her strange
interests and desires. Hesitant at first, then exuberant, she
surrenders to her true self, the beautiful, poised woman surrounded by
dwarves and Siamese twins who is nevertheless, in Lionel's words, a
"real freak". For Diane, this is badge of honor.
Although they hardly touch through most of the film, Diane's
relationship with Lionel is intensely erotic. The excitement stems
from their mutual fascination with the strange and terrible, their
recognition of each other as complementary deviants. It is essentially
the same excitement that I felt when I finally found my Master and he
made me admit that I craved submission. Finally, Diane has found
someone who understands her and who does not judge her, indeed who
celebrates her perverseness.
The tension between the two protagonists is maintained throughout the
film, gradually turning to desperate longing. We expect an explosion
at any time, a conflagration that will finally burn away the falseness
of Diane's old life. Nevertheless, their inevitable coupling near the
end of the film seems anti-climatic. The real climax is the terribly
intimate and prolonged scene in which Diane shaves Lionel's entire
body. Slowly we see the man emerge from within the beast. When he
stands naked before her, bloodied by slips of the razor, I almost
expected Diane to reject him as too normal. However, kinkiness is more
than skin (or fur) deep.
Both Kidman and Downey provide quiet, nuanced performances that are
completely believable. The imagery in the film mirrors Diane's skewed
perspectives, showing us that the rich patrons of the photo studio and
the precisely-groomed fashion models are every bit as grotesque as
Lionel's freak show friends. The allusions to Lewis Carroll's
irrational dream-worlds are obvious but apt.
This is a disturbing and arousing film. I can't get it out of my
mind. Twenty four hours later, I'm still feeling the echoes of
excitement, still recalling erotic images, noticing artful details and
metaphoric parallels. I am writing this review partly in hope that it
will serve as an exorcism, that I will be able to stop meditating on
this movie and actually get some work done.
But ultimately, you can't deny who you are.
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