Exploring the Dim Recesses of Our Imagination

Have you struggled to express an idea because you felt that others would think you were crazy? Have you ever thought that if others could read your thoughts they would think you were a freak? The creators of the movie "Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus" imagine how famous American photographer, Diane Arbus felt about her art and her private world.

Movie Review: Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus
2006 film starring Nicole Kidman and Robert Downing Jr.

According to this film, Diane Arbus considered herself a freak because of the inner workings of her mind. Diane (played by Nicole Kidman) personifies her inner struggles, her inner voice and inner vision which finally led to her artistic expression. Robert Downing Jr. is disguised under a full body of fur. Downing, representing Diane’s core self, is afflicted with a hair growth condition that makes him a side show freak and an outcast. Diane slowly develops a relationship with this outcast and learns how to transform him into a public representation – her art.

The film is a little slow but it is still a fascinating, strange depiction of a woman's insistence on discovering and bringing forth her true identity. If you feel that you have dark aspects of your personality that are better left untouched and private then you may enjoy this film and Diane's struggle. She finally found the courage to manifest herself even though the process was painful.

The movie does not claim to be a biography but rather an imaginary portrait. Its portrayal is like a fantasy and reminds me of the way M. Night Shaymalan tells stories.

Diane Arbus was an American photographer who died in 1971. Her work focused on people who would not normally be featured in a photograph. She photographed transvestites, dwarfs, and people who were in odd poses. Her photograph of two twin girls, one looking somber the other one slightly happy, was the inspiration for the twin girls in the movie The Shining. A copy of the “Identical Twins” sold for $500,000 in 2005.*

For More Information:

• See Diane Arbus’ photography online – great online photography book featuring Diane Arbus artwork.
  


• The movie starring Nicole Kidman: Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus
  
  


• Biography of Diane Arbus
  


• An interesting book that tells the stories of other famous people who turned their odd inner musings into art and success, people like Winston Churchill and Franz Kafka, is called "Churchill’s Black Dog, Kafka’s Mice and Other Phenomena of the Human Mind" by Anthony Storr.
  
• Learn more about famous women and their search for meaning. Visit Famiss- women making and discovering their own history

*Source cited: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/11/AR2005051102052.html

About the author: Allison Frederick is a writer and online marketing educator for other creative women. www.FaMissWomen.com offers free Web 2.0 resources. She is also the author of an upcoming novel, A Portrait of Josephine, an academic-lite thriller. Find out how to receive a free copy of the novel by visiting www.portraitofjosephine.com