Kidman's publicist, Wendy Day, told the press that "Nicole has never met David Thomson. She has only spoken to him briefly on the phone about her acting processes and various films. He's a well-respected film writer and she accepted the interview only because she was under the impression he was writing a series of film essays."
In "Nicole Kidman," Thomson explores the concept of the biography through his mixture of film analysis, idolatry and cultural study. He seems more to ponder the idea of "Nicole" than to worry about presenting a thorough account of the actress, and in fact makes little reference to dates or locations to ground important events in his subject's life.
Thomson came to the United States from England in 1975 to teach, first in Henniker and then at Dartmouth. He has since published 17 books including essays, novels and memoirs. Between 1975 and 2004 he published four editions of the critically acclaimed "New Biographical Dictionary of Film" and has regularly contributed to The New York Times, Film Comment, Movieline, The New Republic and Salon.com.
"Kidman" opens like a case study of an actress in general, making the selection seem almost arbitrary until you discover the author's penchant for the star. "I love her -- so long as I do not have to meet her," he openly proclaims, revealing his generous, if fantastical, approach to biography.
After spending the first 30 pages generalizing vaguely about America, Hollywood and Australia, Thomson eases into discussion of the essence of cinema, which proves to be most interesting. "The thing that once was a synonym for understanding -- seeing -- has now become a drug or an enchantment," Thomson says, and notes the "principle of hopeless desire ... on which the movies are founded." When Thomson finally lands on Kidman, he seems to use her as a symbol of the industry and art form American film has become, redeeming the low-points of her career by blaming Hollywood for its under- or misuse of her screen presence.
"If the situation is right, we need only the actor's presence," he states when trying to compare her to such icons as Barbara Stanwyck and Bette Davis. In making another stretched comparison between the film "Dead Calm" and Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho," Thomson cites the "fascinating riddle in the study of acting: presence and performance are not always aligned."
Thomson settles into his pace gradually before offering a chapter on each of Kidman's films, but only after commenting on the topics of Australian film, cricket and World War II.
He litters the book with rather puzzling phrases that remind the reader of the license afforded an artist's biographer. "She looks at the cameras as if it might be her confidant or co-conspirator. It is a look that says, anyone who sees deep inside me -- well, there's a reward, know what I mean?" he writes.
Another such inexplicable quote is: "You may know the curve of her bottom as well as your child's brow." Perhaps such assertions of the reader's shared obsession for Kidman explain the book's reputation for having "fetishized" Kidman.
But interspersed among the emotional responses to Kidman's performances and the extensive discussion of every instance of her nudity on screen or on stage, Thomson broadens his focus to the worlds of cinema, theatre and mass-media celebrity with an insight that is the most winning characteristic of his work. "Bad taste is exactly what this frigid nation and its anxiety-ridden cinema require," he states boldly after muddling through descriptions of Kidman's worst films and mourning the poor reception of her best, and most obscure, work.
"The best way to explore evil in films," writes Thomson in his discussion of "To Die For," "is to shine the radiance of self-love on it, to let it sunbathe in the light of wickedness." It is rather jarring to read, just pages later, that "[t]he film is buttery with its own power. Bite into it and the melting juice fills your mouth." But Thomson's treatment of this apparently fabulous if under-appreciated film reveals the two sides of Thomson's biographical style: self-indulgence and insight.
To be fair, I don't know why anyone but a major fan would chose to write a biography of Nicole choose, so of course such a work is bound to include biased praise, but Thomson acknowledges her failures fairly while attributing many to the pitfalls of Hollywood business. He concedes that "In America, actresses are often surrounded and soothed by the flattery of those they work with," and offers his tribute to Kidman as no exception to that rule.
