Once I realized that this is an imaginary portrait, and not a real biographic portrait, I felt better about Nicole Kidman playing Diane Arbus. Before watching it I was ready to contact the casting director with a list of suggestions of who would have been more appropriate to play Arbus, including, but not limited to, Claire Danes and Lili Taylor.
Once I understood that this was a take-off on the great photographer's life, I accepted that Kidman could do this role. Her big blue-eyed stare, breathless voice, and willowy beauty could fit into this fairy tale portrait of a woman who voluntarily (or not) stepped into a world very different from the one she was born into. If anything, her beauty made her that much more different than the so-called freaks she was attracted to.
As a portrayal of a woman fascinated by people outside the norm, I found this film quite gripping. I would like to have seen Arbus, played by Kidman, getting into the photographic relationships she wound up having with her freaky subjects.
Once I understood that this was a take-off on the great photographer's life, I accepted that Kidman could do this role. Her big blue-eyed stare, breathless voice, and willowy beauty could fit into this fairy tale portrait of a woman who voluntarily (or not) stepped into a world very different from the one she was born into. If anything, her beauty made her that much more different than the so-called freaks she was attracted to.
As a portrayal of a woman fascinated by people outside the norm, I found this film quite gripping. I would like to have seen Arbus, played by Kidman, getting into the photographic relationships she wound up having with her freaky subjects.