Nicole Kidman
by David Thompson
Published by Vintage Books
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Review by Claire Vath
The book begins with the chapter titled “Strangers,” and an Australian woman is quoted as saying that in the 20 years she’s known Nicole Kidman, the woman feels she doesn’t know the actress. “A lot of actors . . . don’t exist when they aren’t playing a part,” she says.
From her porcelain skin and icy blue eyes to her infamous romances with Hollywood leading men, Nicole Kidman has seen her own star rise. Now author and noted film critic David Thompson felt she commands another facet of the media spotlight: a biography aptly titled Nicole Kidman.
At the outset, I thought the first few chapters were a long introduction because Thompson fails to properly delve into Kidman’s life. He focuses instead mainly on her movie role characters and the psychology of being an actress in a cutthroat business. But as I moved further into the book, I realized all the chapters were like that.
We learn more and more about Kidman as an actress—the way she throws herself into a part, how Kidman could identify with her particular character and the plot of the film. She’s commanded great roles, such as Virginia Woolf in “The Hours” alongside screen legend Meryl Streep, Stanley Kubrick’s “Eyes Wide Shut” with soon to be ex-husband Tom Cruise and Baz Luhrman’s “Moulin Rouge.” Kidman’s personal tidbits are almost sprinkled into the chapters as a mere afterthought.
From her humble Australian upbringing (and, actually, she lived in the United States for a brief time growing up) to her first small film role in Australia and finally making it big in America, Kidman has definitely made an indelible mark in the American cinema.
Author David Thompson is a gifted film critic, and his knowledge of Kidman’s films is superb. Thompson clearly reveres Kidman, and says so many times throughout the book, but if he’s hoping to crack that icy veneer, he too has failed to do so. When the book ends, there’s still this unquenched thirst for a crack at Kidman’s true persona.
Armchair Interviews says: Disappointing because so much was about her movies—and not about the woman who is the movie star.