It's called "Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus," but there's nothing imaginary about the film. It's real all right, and it stubbornly commands your attention for two boring hours.
You stick in your seat not lost in the story or smothered in rapt tension, but out of morbid curiosity — is anything interesting going to happen? All this slow build is actually leading toward something, right?
Director Steven Shainberg's film does indeed go somewhere, but only after doddering around without apparent aim for far longer than it's worth. The film does end on an elegant note of resonance that justifies the byzantine path that leads up to it. It's tough to determine whether the sense of satisfaction that washes over when the credits start rolling comes from fulfillment by the movie or relief that it's finally over.
Based on the Patricia Bosworth book, "Diane Arbus: A Biography," "Fur" deals with the birth of the artistic mind rather than a career blow-by-blow. It's an odd tactic for a biopic on a generally obscure figure. Few outside photography circles are familiar with Arbus (1923-1971), a photojournalist who specialized in shooting oddballs, freaks and people with uncommon attributes. The prequel-like approach would have worked better for, say, Ansel Adams.
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The main problem with Shainberg's film is how little it does to make you interested in Arbus' professional career. The film starts in the 1950s when Arbus, played blandly by Nicole Kidman, worked as an assistant to her fashion photographer husband, Allan (Ty Burrell). Diane spends her days looking unfulfilled and pondering her squandered existence. After she's through with that, she does some more pondering, and then some more.
Eventually she meets the man who changes everything for her: Lionel (Robert Downey Jr.), a wig maker who suffers from a condition that causes hair to grow all over his body like Chewbacca. Diane falls in love with Lionel and becomes fascinated with his mysterious ways, shunning her family and husband to go off with Lionel on adventures including watching a naked man dance with a prostitute, playing cards with little people and chatting up a neighbor who has no arms. The relationship between Diane and Lionel takes on an unconsummated "Beauty and the Beast" dynamic. You sit back and reflect how much better the film would be with talking tea kettles and candlesticks.
We're to assume it's during her experiences with Lionel that Diane develops her eye and finds a new urgency to stop wasting her time in unsatisfying experiences. You develop an eye on the exit sign and a new urgency to stop wasting your time on an unsatisfying film.
● "Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus" (**). Rated R for graphic nudity, some sexuality and language. Starring Nicole Kidman. Directed by Steven Shainberg. 122 minutes. Playing at the Loft.