Camille Claudel (1989)

WARNING: DVD IS CUT BY 13 MINUTES!

This USA butchered DVD release has 13 minutes cut from it, excluding major plot points, whole sequences, violence, nudity and characters. This is NOT a review of the film, merely this substandard, shoddy MGM release. The UNCUT version on DVD is available in the UK, France, Spain, Italy, basically everywhere in the world but here! July 23, 2008

a fascinating woman and artist ... broken under a world which did respectively she could not open up

A life in-between mania and raging passion
This touching movie - shot in following the biography written by Reine-Marie Paris - respects Camille Claudel and her tragic life most powerfully.

Isabell Adjani who pictures an amazingly striking similarity of the original gets herself as actress brilliantly into Claudel's personality which again and again links up a paranoid disorder with a brilliant sculptor in her own right and kind on its way down to an obsessively self created social withdrawal, unavoidably for women at those time.
Absorbingly, impressively and intensely Adani dominates for nearly 3 hours this dramatic course of paranoid schizophrenia of this extraordinary lady artist, an illness which is nurtured by affective, creative and wrecking actions and "happenings" and which - in a world dominated by men - has impeded her development of a successful and harmonious sculptress.

Undoubtedly, Claudel's fascinating fine art works of "A revolt against nature: a woman genius" [Octave Mirbeau] emerged from an intensive and artistically minded, worthwhile love affair with Auguste Rodin, perfectly played by Depardieu, a relationship which supported Rodin by its discrepancy and conflict as well but which, however, finally ended for Claudel in apathy and paranoia after a life of dissipation.

This movie is really genially directed by Nuytten and shows without beating about the bush or any kind of glorification this tragically ending, close companionship, a companionship which could have guided both to a cohabitation but - paradoxically supporting their individual great artistic intentions - split them instead due to two distinctly conflictive and contrary emotions and reasons.

... a most convincing und straight forward documentation about the 1st half of the life of a highly gifted artist June 29, 2008

Great story...slow moving...

This movie is based on the life of Camille Claudel (1864-1943) who was a beautiful and talented French sculptor. She gets support from her Father early on in her passionate pursuit of her artistic development however he eventually climbs on the side of her despicable Mother who looks for Camille to take a more traditional path in life (wife, mother, etc).

Rodin, considered by many to be one of the world's greatest sculptors, took on Camille as a mentee and quickly learned that in many ways her talents exceeded his. Rodin, twice her age, falls in love with Claudel and she with him. Claudel presses Rodin to marry her after learning that she is pregnant however Rodin refuses to commit to her or to any woman for that matter. Claudel reluctantly walks away from him and eventually loses her mind when she sees that Rodin goes on surviving without her. She becomes convinced that Rodin and his supporters were out to steal her work and her best ideas and she eventually is institutionalized for 30 years until her death at 78 years of age.

I found the story to be engaging and the cinematography to be first rate. However this nearly 3 hour movie was a bit slow moving for me and certain parts were hard to reconcile (Claudel barely ages throughout the movie - Rodin's ability to walk away from Claudel after she is such a great inspiration and love to him - her odd relationship with her brother.) June 4, 2008

Camille Claudel - a must see

The story of Camille Claudel is a 'must see' for anyone interested in the role of women in the 19th century who are up against the power and status of men - matters still relevant in the 21st century - despite feminism. This movie is about family and personal relationships, patriarchial systems, how women were once labelled mentally ill (or driven to it) through the pursuit of exploring and demonstrating their creativity, talent and genius. After watching this movie the memory of Camille Claudel,her work and courage lives on and is much respected. May 22, 2008

Fantastic...

This is an amazing move. Gerard Depardieu and Isabelle Adjani turn our tour de force performances. Depardieu as the talented if not callus Rodin who becomes the rock that Adjani as Camille breaks herself against. Wonderful for two different reasons this movie shows us first, the limited society that women (even women with talent) are forced to inhabit, and second how destructive love can be when one loves more than the other. January 2, 2008

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