Nicole Kidman

will enjoy this book the most. If you like Nicole Kidman or at least find her interesting you will enjoy this book. The author has a bit of a crush on her which he doesn't try to hide. He traverses her life interpreting her actions emotionally as well as artistically. I enjoyed the book. I hope you do too!

It's always difficult to write a current bio of a famous personality as there seems to be breaking news on an almost daily basis. Case in point - the arresting bio of Nicole Kidman by David Thomson. The world recently learned that the mega star and husband Keith Urban are expecting their first child. That may be the only detail overlooked in this in depth study, and that omission was only due to time constraints. Thomson who has taught film studies at Dartmouth College and is on the selection committee for the New York Film Festival is an astute observer of cinema and all its ramifications. Thus, he brings an added dimension to this particular book in which he explores the influence of film on the observers, saying "....acting and being at the movies are mirror images." So, while his book is most definitely about acting and Nicole Kidman, it is also about "what happens to anyone beholding an actress." Before launching into a description of Kidman's life and films, the author describes how he sees the actress today. Noting that there are thousands upon thousands of hits on the mouse every day from those who want to know more about Kidman, he says that she has lived up to the celebrity demand of being on public display whether she is posing for upscale perfume ads, sitting for countless glossy covers, or dropping " her clothes if only to air out that elegant Australian body." In later years he envisions her as being rather like Katharine Hepburn, a proud older woman, a mistress of her craft. Meanwhile, Kidman is in her prime and Thomson takes an expansive look at her films to date beginning with a TV movie for children in 1983 to Birth, The Stepford Wives and The Interpreter, which he calls "three duds in a row" - a fate to be avoided at all costs. Nonetheless, she prevails. Thomson's book is both intriguing and a scholarly analysis - it is always fascinating. Highly recommended. - Gail Cooke

No one writes about films the way David Thomson does. Yes, this is a love letter to an actress, but more than that, it is a humorous, insightul look at current movies, and our culture. Not your standard biography, this book is much more than that, and a real treat from beginning to end.