If you don't know Arbus.
But some people know it.
This great female photographer who deeply influenced the history of American photography is known for photographing people who are "weird looking". Androgynous, manic babies, teens with grenades, nudist camps, weird triplets, crossdressers. Her shots are not sympathetic, but positive. These protagonists, whom ordinary people find terrifying, do not seem to find themselves weird, ugly, terrifying, or incompatible with society in the photos. Photographs create a certain tension in the viewer: "Don't they know they're weird?" As Sontag said in On Photography: "The authority of Arbus's photographs is their piercing the contrast between their subjects and their calm, dry focus.”
So, when we see someone using her as a story shooter, it’s natural to want to follow her lens to find out why she professed to be only Filming people with "weird appearances", what stories did she encounter, and why did she film them like that. Rather than a love art film with its own weird skin.
Anyway, if you don't know Arbus, it's a good movie. Or forget her for now and meet Nicole Kidman first.
View more about Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus reviews
