With "Fur" upon us, we look back at Kidman's career

By Kathleen Murphy
Special to MSN Movies

A movie star like Nicole Kidman thrives in a dangerous intimacy with the folks out in the dark who pay to watch her act. Up there, on the big screen, she's larger than life, inviting audiences to eyeball her, body and soul. Strip-tease and violation, yes, but fulfilling to those who feed on fictions as well as the bright, beautiful banquet who serves herself up to hungry eyes. Would Kidman -- or any actress -- exist if we weren't watching?

But Nicole Kidman isn't just eye-candy. She's a great actress who thinks outside the box -- or her last cinematic portrait. Those calculating blue eyes look beyond achieved adulation, toward something more, and different. She takes real risks by immersing her beauty and grace in characters not so easily swallowed by the movie-going public. Kidman's new film, "Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus," signals that the adventuress is abroad again, playing a woman who abandons a settled life with husband and family to pursue her art in a world of freaks and outcasts. So join me for a walk on the wild side with Nicole Kidman, in 10 of her best roles.