Nicole Kidman [Paperback]

This book is not so much a biography (let alone an authorized biography) as it is a trite apologetic for the author's own obsession with Nicole Kidman. Thompson offers an armchair deconstruction of film and film-making in an effort to lend his book some semblance of critical purpose. His conclusion however, (all movie actors are hollow shells of human beings with whom we interact in a mutual desire to fill some assumed void; movies are only viewed as an extension of star-worship) generalizes his own neurosis and obsessions to his readers. These kinds of sweeping generalizations permeate the text (all Australian's are driven by rage??) and would not pass muster in a college freshman writing course.

Thompson's chummy style, implicating the reader in his own onanistic obsession, is grotesque. Personally, I do not surf the web looking for nude and semi-nude pictures of Ms. Kidman, nor do I share Thompson's morbid fantasies of her waking up "screaming" at the realization that she is aging. This falls firmly under the category of "too much information" and should give the reader a clue as to the proprietary and even sadistic bent of Thompson's attachment to and fascination with the actress.

Ultimately, Thompson's argument that Ms. Kidman shamelessly courts the limelight begging to be worshiped in an effort to "be" what we desire speaks more truth about Thompson's own need to justify his voyeuristic impulses than it does about Ms. Kidman's attitude towards privacy and public notice. It brings to mind the kind of defense offered at rape trials that the girl was "asking for it" because she had on too much makeup. And the rape analogy can be taken farther. The availability of coverage of her personal life is primarily the product of those industries secondary to the film industry - the tabloids, entertainment broadcasts and yes, critics, who obtain their own celebrity and make their living by marketing the image of others. In so doing, they take something as essential to a human being as their identity out of their hands, craft or even reinvent it and sell it like a comodity for their own gain.

Thompson exemplifies the worst of this parasitic behavior, reducing Nicole Kidman to the shell of a public persona crafted largely by others, and presuming to therefore "know" her, all the while blaming her for the shallowness of that image. Worse yet, in a volume that bears Ms. Kidman's name and likeness on the cover, Thompson uses this "biography" to showcase his own obsession and his own fantasy-driven "insights" into popular culture and film. A book like this, nothing more than fantasy-rendered-as-biography, can only be regarded as an act of violence against its very subject.

Most people buy biographies because they have an existing interest in that star and want to get more of an insight into that particular personality. This book provides absolutely no new revelations into this talented actress. Instead we are forced to be the audience to David's views on each and every film and how he feels she could have done better/worse etc. There are very few interviews with people that have worked with her, few details about why she made her films choices, how the films were put together, and how she has become such a bankable star. He quotes from other magazine and interviews she has done, which we all have access to, and talks like he knows her intimately even though it is revealed they only spoke for a few minutes on the phone. I understand this was an unauthorised biog, but surely there could have been some proper investagative journalism and research done to provide the reader with new information on Nicole, instead of boring us with his own theories. Shame on you David! We bought this book to learn more about Nicole not about you.

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