Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus (also known simply as Fur) is a 2006 American romantic drama film directed by Steven Shainberg and written by Erin Cressida Wilson, based on Patricia Bosworth's book Diane Arbus: A Biography.
It stars Nicole Kidman as iconic American photographer Diane Arbus, who was known for her strange, disturbing images, and also features Robert Downey Jr. and Ty Burrell.
In New York City, 1958, Diane Arbus, a mother and housewife, plays assistant to her photographer husband Allan.
One night, during a party, she gazes out the window and catches the eye of Lionel Sweeney, a neighbor who recently moved in upstairs.
She complies and sees an ornate chair and a sideshow poster of a "wild man," which an armless woman then dusts off.
Diane returns to Lionel's apartment, rolls in his bed, and breathes the air he blew into a life raft to inflate it.
Mark Romanek had previously tried to direct and write a film based on Bosworth's biography for DreamWorks Pictures.
"[7] The Chicago Tribune gave the film three out of four stars: "The result is a revelatory, challenging and deeply affecting portrait, anchored by what may be Kidman's most profoundly moving performance.
"[8] The Los Angeles Times criticized the "cop-out ending that undercuts its message about the unimportance of surface differences in favor of a glib finalities to have its cake and eat it too".
Despite this, the newspaper continued to heap praise on Kidman and Downey Jr; "the remarkable acting of its two stars pulls you back in and keeps you watching.
Kidman, the most consistently daring of today's top stars, is exceptionally convincing as someone whose interior process plays out in front of us.
And Downey, for the most part using only his soulful, yearning eyes and a silky, urbane voice, creates a man no one could resist.