Fur - An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus DVD (2007) Nicole Kidman, Shainberg Title: Fur - An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus Leading Actor: Nicole Kidman Region: Region 2 Duration: 117 mins Format: DVD / Normal Type: DVD No. of Discs: 1 disc(s) Studio / Publisher: Entertainment in Video UK Release Date: 23 Jul 2007 Edition: Normal An imagined biography of photographer Diane Arbus’ transformation from ’50s housewife to legendary snapper of life’s more ‘unusual’ portraits. Diane Arbus (Nicole Kidman) is unhappily married mother to two children, Her mother and father are socialite fur-sellers and her husband Alan (Ty Burrell) a renowned studio photographer. Since childhood Diane has been hopelessly drawn to the unusual and when encouraged to take some pictures herself she seeks a subject that will speak aloud her worldview - that of people on the margins, the unusual and erotic. Opportunity knocks when a mysterious masked man moves into the flat upstairs. Diane is compelled to meet him. She takes a camera upstairs under the guise of photographer wanting to capture her neighbour on film. The dapper and charming Lionel Sweeney (Robert Downey Jr.), it transpires, has a rare disorder, hypertrichosis, that covers him head to toe in thick, lustrous hair that he harvests to make high-class wigs. Arbus is completely enslaved by Lionel’s sheer difference and is soon finding any excuse to enter his world. A former circus sideshow himself, Lionel has a circle of friends and clients ranging from an armless woman to midgets, transvestites and a giant - all of whom utterly fascinate his pal. Fur, however far from the true events it may be, is a tender portrayal of human compassion and of a woman pursuing art against great odds.
