Camille Claudel (1988)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

Bruno Nuytten

Writers:

Reine-Marie Paris (book)
Bruno Nuytten (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

21 December 1989 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama

Plot:

Biography of Camille Claudel. Sister of writer Paul Claudel, her enthusiasm impresses already-famous sculptor Auguste Rodin...

Plot Keywords:

Auguste Rodin | Sculptor | Alcohol | Obsession | Cat

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 8 wins & 9 nominations

Cast

Isabelle Adjani	...	Camille Claudel
Gérard Depardieu	...	Auguste Rodin
Laurent Grévill	...	Paul Claudel
Alain Cuny	...	Louis-Prosper Claudel
Madeleine Robinson	...	Louise-Athanaise Claudel
Katrine Boorman	...	Jessie Lipscomb
Danièle Lebrun	...	Rose Beuret
Aurelle Doazan	...	Louise Claudel
Madeleine Marie	...	Victoire
Maxime Leroux	...	Claude Debussy
Philippe Clévenot	...	Eugène Blot
Roger Planchon	...	Morhardt
Flaminio Corcos	...	Schwob
Roch Leibovici	...	P'tit Louis
Gérard Darier	...	Marcel

Also Known As:

Camille Claudel (USA)
Camille Claudel - Violence et passion (France) (promotional title)

Runtime:

France:175 min | USA:158 min (cut version)

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color (Fujicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Spain:13 | Argentina:13 | Chile:14 | Finland:K-8 | South Korea:18 | Sweden:11 | UK:PG | USA:R | West Germany:12 | Singapore:NC-16 | Australia:M

Company:

Les Films Christian Fechner

Movie Connections:

Featured in The 62nd Annual Academy Awards (1990) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Spleen

Darkness and Light

This film is about the tragic failure of a genius. She fails not so much because of her tendency to make fatal mistakes but because of the shape those mistakes took in her mind. This, even as lesser personages prospered (e.g., Camille's brother Paul, the famous Catholic poet and diplomat) because they were not adverse to espousing convenient "beliefs" for the sake of earthly success. Many viewers will feel a strong affinity with Camille, not because they consider themselves geniuses but rather for the interior world she constructed that, without religion, gave the exterior world meaning. I say she was without religion, but in fact sculpture was her religion--at least until her final failure to gain the respect and patronage of capricious buyers. It was then that her religion (her meaningful myth) took the form of a conspiracy delusion. Powerful people, she thought (mostly, the sculptor Rodin, who had been her lover), were out to get her, thwarting her every move.

What we experience here is a thoughtful, scary exploration of the darkness that is a paradoxical part of all brilliance.