Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus
Picturehouse Entertainment | Release Date: November 10, 2006 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
50
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 31 Critic Reviews
Positive:
8
Mixed:
19
Negative:
4
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
L.A. WeeklyScott Foundas
Much of the film is as strange and oddly beautiful as one of Arbus' own photographs, bold in its attempt to find new ways of cracking the biopic chestnut and sensitive in its portrayal of a 1950s woman who, like so many of her contemporaries, finds herself imprisoned in a "Good Housekeeping" nightmare. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneJessica Reaves
The result is a revelatory, challenging and deeply affecting portrait, anchored by what may be Kidman's most profoundly moving performance to date. Read full review
75
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
Kidman brings her character to life with a fey, moth-to-the-flame enthrallment that's both touching and fascinating. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
Yet whenever you get too irritated at Fur's pretensions, the remarkable acting of its two stars pulls you back in and keeps you watching. Read full review
70
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
Purists will howl at the liberties Shainberg has taken with the facts, but there's a bravery to Fur, an uncompromising commitment to its narrow focus -- of one woman's creative birth -- that rhymes with Arbus's own artistic courage. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
Fur is that rare movie that's TOO understated, so quiet and deliberate that it effectively buries consuming passions. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
This is a Beauty & the Beast romance between Nicole Kidman and Chewbacca. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
If the only measure of Fur's achievement was in how well it conjures the fairy-tale mood of Arbus' most memorable photos, then it is a modest success. But as a chronicle of the turning point in an artist's creative life, it falls flat on its viewfinder. Read full review
60
VarietyTodd McCarthy
Picture is impressively crafted and acted but far too narrowly and benignly conceived to satisfy even on its own terms. Read full review
60
SalonStephanie Zacharek
This Diane Arbus, as she's portrayed by a tremulous Nicole Kidman, radiates warmth and empathy that's nowhere to be seen in the work of the real Diane Arbus. Fur is intended to be a tribute to Arbus, but it's more a fancifully embroidered tapestry of wishful thinking. Read full review
60
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
This arty and moody account of her formation as an artist, as its subtitle declares, is basically invented. Its nerviness only pays off in a few details and in Nicole Kidman's resourcefulness. Read full review
60
EmpireAngie Errigo
Far-out touches and liberal application of metaphor are compensated for by intensity and two mesmerising performances. Read full review
50
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Downey makes something lively, sexy and moving out of a role that's just a thin concept. But the movie feels like it's still in the darkroom. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
Fur is a misfire by the talented people who four years ago gave us "Secretary," whose tongue-in-cheek approach might have served this film better, taking the edge off much of its pretensions. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
The tall, cool Kidman works hard to impersonate a woman possessed, but she's not the type of actress to fill in a role that hasn't been filled in on paper. Read full review
50
The New YorkerDavid Denby
Wilson and the director, Steven Shainberg, draw on Arbus's family and on many elements from her life and her art, only to turn the material into feeble nonsense. Read full review
50
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
A misguided tribute to the woman his (Shainberg's) film identifies among "the greatest artists of the 20th century." Read full review
50
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Though sometimes boldly captivating, the movie is also occasionally pretentious and lurid simply for shock value. Read full review
50
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
Fur is a folly, though not a dishonorable one. Read full review
50
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Fur starts stylishly, and confidently, but the film dwindles down to a chamber piece in a claustrophobic chamber. Enter at your own risk.
50
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
The movie's considerable problems are not the fault of its dedicated star, Nicole Kidman. She does her job beautifully - which, come to think of it, may be something of a problem after all. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
In the end, the sheer obviousness of Shainberg and screenwriter Erin Cressida Wilson's take on Diane Arbus' perverse determination to examine and document the forbidden overshadows even Kidman's beautifully modulated performance, which takes Diane from brittle neurosis to a vaguely predatory ingenuousness. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
Fur does what an Arbus photograph never would -- it leaves no room to imagine and removes any reason for doubt. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
In theory, there's nothing wrong with this unorthodox approach to Arbus -- attempting to explain her from the inside out. (In its way, Harmony Korine's freakfest "Gummo" is a better Arbus movie.) The trouble is that Shainberg and Wilson don't connect their conceit to anything artistically enlightening, erotic, or truly deviant. Read full review
42
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
The result is this metabiography that says almost nothing about the great photographer's life or art. Read full review
42
Portland OregonianMarc Mohan
Fiction can sometimes be used to access a deeper truth than mere fact, but in this case all it does is obscure and confuse a fascinating life story. Read full review
40
SlateDana Stevens
That's the best thing that can be said about Fur: It feels good when it's over, and if you see it with a smart friend, it's a blast to hash over afterward. Read full review
38
New York PostKyle Smith
Problem: Kidman is the only one in the theater who is turned on. The rest of us are giggling. Read full review
30
Austin ChronicleToddy Burton
Fur dares the viewer to look into the eyes of Kidman and Downey Jr. and not see a whimpering housewife with a crush on Chewbacca. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleRuthe Stein
It's as if a trumped-up biopic of Andy Warhol were to appear titled "Soup.'' Read full review
16
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Shainberg reduces this most disturbing of all photographers to a portraitist of Halloween. Read full review
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