"(Famous actor) as you've never seen them before", goes the
tacky marketing push for films like this. Not to say that this mode can’t be
done well, as it has for Charlize Theron in Monster or Steve Carell in
Foxcatcher or even Tilda Swinton in Suspiria. It’s just that there’s something
slightly patronising about the idea that special make-up is a bigger selling
point than the actor on their own merits. It’s especially weird in situations
like this, as the transformative aspect of this film isn’t even as intensive as
Monster or Foxcatcher.
There’s no point in this film where the audience simply
forgets who they’re looking at; the make-up isn’t that good. But more to the point, the idea that this is Nicole
Kidman turning a new leaf? After seeing her perform one of the greatest verbal
emasculations in the history of cinema back with Secret In Their Eyes, this is
the kind of shit I’ve been eagerly awaiting her to revisit. And thankfully, she
doesn’t disappoint.
