Awesome Movie

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

It is clear that Arbus's artistic calling was to portray the marginalized. Though she has received much criticism for her lack of empathy for her subjects or for always portraying darkness and ugliness, I am not sure how much better or more empathetic of a job she could have done given the constraints of societal norms of her time. Remember, her oeuvre was mostly photographed before the 1970's when she died. How much tolerance for the atypical: the dwarfs, the trans-gendered, the nudists--did society really have in the 1960s? Is there really much tolerance of these groups even today? Tolerance is moving in the right direction, but it is still a very small number of people who tolerate statistical abnormalities of lifestyle or body type. What Sontag writes about Arbus's photography, calling it a "freak show" that often lacks compassion for these marginalized subjects of hers, seems to highlight more of a projection of Sontag's own interpretations of these subjects onto the work itself, rather than inherent flaws in the work. There is nothing unilaterally uncompassionate about her photographs, which simply serve as documents of specific moments; she positioned herself and the frame of the camera, but the actions and expressions were those of her subjects. For this reason, some people (with whom I do not agree) consider photography to be not quite an art, per se. That said, the film itself is mediocre at best. Nicole Kidman, RDJr, and Ty Burrell really do an excellent job in holding together a weak-ish plot with superb acting skills. I found the final love scene between Arbus and her first subject Lionel to be anti-climactic considering the build up of tension between the two characters throughout the film. I think the director intentionally portrayed Arbus as starting out with a photographic passion, then letting that morph into a less voyeuristic desire to understand and be around these people who few other than she at the time found beautiful, nearly forgetting altogether to photograph Lionel until his final moments. This was probably to counter the negative criticism Arbus has received for her alleged lack of empathy for her subjects.This film, despite its mediocrity, does portray (albeit fictionally) the process and back story behind an artistic legend, and will no doubt succeed in "comforting the disturbed, and disturbing the comfortable" as art should do. What's sad to me about the film, and I am not sure how much of this is based on factual history and how much was invented, is that Arbus realizes only after a long marriage and two children that she has become a mere shadow and backer of her husband's creative work, and that a change is needed for her to find her independent voice. If she indeed left her children (and let's not mention her man) to pursue the nudist colony as subjects, long-term, I have to think that her art was a little more far-reaching than it needed to be in terms of empathizing with the marginalized, since she couldn't avoid the neglect of her own family to create it. The time to create is either before having children, or concurrently with children, dividing time between responsibility with artistic passion; not in a vacuum in which your children seem not to exist. Her timing was terrible.Does anyone know: was there a Lionel-esque character in Arbus's real life? I'd be interested to know. I do wish there was more background on Lionel that might lead the viewer to understand his interests, his courage, and his love for Diane in more depth and to the completion of his character development.So, I'd recommend the film to those curious about Diane Arbus, though the story is fictional, as far as I understand; as well as to fans of Kidman, Downey, Jr., and Burrell. Be prepared for some uncomfortable moments(odd scenes of prolonged sexual tension), a great deal of nudity (she, after all, visits a nudist colony twice in the film), and images that will force you to question the status quo and why you adhere to it. If anything it is a good excuse to learn more about photography on your own time, which can't be a bad thing.

A biography told from the inside out. Instead of a fact-based story told through specific events, this movie attempts to put you inside the artist's mind. It is plain weird, but it works beautifully. It's a film of a curious woman who struggles to fit into society's expectations of ignorance and conformity. She is drawn to oddities and embraces the "freaks" of society. What's not to admire about someone who shows unbiased acceptance of others? It is a theme that is still very relevant today as society continues to shun members based on race, social class, sexual orientation, etc. If you are a typical automaton, this film might be too strange for you. On the other hand, if you've ever wondered what it would be like to lead an atypical life, if you ever found yourself curious about something different then here it is.

I thought that this film was awful, like stunk on ice awful. Kidman can certainly carry off the doe eyed innocent, but she can't make it interesting. Even RDJr, who is generally worth sitting through almost anything, except this, could not save this or make it worth the 2 hours and change of my life that I will never get back.Ty Burrell was nice to see in a non-silly role, completely unlike his TV persona.The movie was painfully boring, pretentious and self conscious to the point of being unwatchable. I must admit, I threw in the towel about 45 minutes in and watched a documentary on PBS. Time better spent.

despite the fact that i ve never loved the biography -drama genre movies , but this one is done well , i loved it , loved the acting , the unusual script , the whispering plot and the directing i have the honor to be one of nicole kidman' s admirer , this stunning actress , really she love her work i assure of that after i saw that movie , a big star like her never think of that sort of film but a one like nicole who likes to be unique , star with the whole meaning of word , yes she dare to do that and she really succeeded , it will be added to her excellent history,SHE Succeeded TO act the character which has the , whispering , beauty calm , coldness , sensitiveness properties , she had to deserve an Oscar node in my opinion ,good job nicole