Nicole Kidman Tribute: The Portrait of a Lady (1996)

by Nathaniel R

Madame Merle: I'd give a good deal to be your age again; to have my life before me.
Isabel Archer: Your life is before you yet.

This article was originally intended to grace our "How Had I Never Seen?" series. Jane Campion's The Portrait  of a Lady (1996) has stubbornly remained on my "to see" list for nearly twenty years. I let it sit there, as a shamefully passive intent, not unlike the way Isabel Archer approached her own 'to experience' lists past the age of 24. That's when she marries Mr Osmond in Henry James "The Portrait of a Lady" and her idealism and ambition are utterly flatted by the limits of her imagination, courage, and self-possession. The novel first appeared in serialized form in 1880 and for the following century and a half, Isabel Archer has confounded and/or fascinated readers; Fellow artists, too, like auteur Jane Campion and actress Nicole Kidman...

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Nicole Kidman Tribute: Eyes Wide Shut (1999)

by Nick Taylor

Hey, you there! Yeah, you! How well do you think you know your wife? Your partner? The human being you consider your most intimate companion, someone you trust so implicitly that you may in fact take for granted the idea that they have as many mysteries and desires as you yourself do? If you’re laboring under such delusions and need a stark reminder of such realities, then do I have a movie and a performance for you! Our celebration of Nicole Kidman’s ‘90s uprising has reached its conclusion with Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut...

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Nicole Kidman Tribute: Practical Magic (1998)

by Christopher James

The seeds for Big Little Lies were planted nearly 20 years earlier with Practical Magic. Admittedly much goofier than the prestige HBO miniseries, Practical Magic is an unequivocal crowd pleaser stuffed with delightful characters, cozy fall vibes and wicked pleasures. This is thanks to the strange, yet wonderful pairing of Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock...

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Cannes Diary: "Limonov: The Ballad"

by Elisa Giudici

LIMONOV - THE BALLAD © Cannes Film Festival

A final surprise, though not a good one. With the exception of a fully committed star turn by Ben Whishaw, I would never have thought I'd use the adjectives "timid" and "indecisive" to describe Liminov: The Ballad on my Cannes festival bingo card. Not when the film is  helmed by someone as bold in his views and choices as Kirill Serebrennikov. Yet here we are...

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Nicole Kidman Tribute: To Die For (1995)

by Christopher James

The year 1995 is a pivotal moment in the definition of Nicole Kidman. Both of her films released this year paint different paths her career could go. As Dr. Chase Meridian in Batman Forever, Nicole Kidman pursues mainstream success, hoping to align her name with a big franchise full of stars. Though she eventually returns to the superhero genre (hello, Aquaman), we get the first real glimpse at the prestige actress we know and love today with her seismic turn in Gus Van Sant’s To Die For. At that point, Kidman was best known as Mrs. Tom Cruise, having already starred in Days of Thunder and Far & Away with her husband. In redefining her image as a real actress, Kidman first had to lean into the stereotypes that people saw in her.

Her Suzanne Stone Maretto is a ditzy social climber whose quest for fame greatly exceeds her talent at wielding it. Kidman mined every negative aspect of Suzanne for comedy and, in doing so, created a horribly relatable character we couldn’t get enough of...

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