Camille Claudel (1989)

It is a performances centric movie

Did you people see the same film I saw?

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

Former cinematographer Bruno Nuytten's directorial debut from 1988 which gained two Academy Award nominations in 1989, is based on the novel "Camille Claudel" by Reine-Marie Paris, grand-daughter of Camille Claudel's brother Paul Claudel, which was adapted by Bruno Nuytten and Marylin Goldin. Isabelle Adjani won the Silver Berlin Bear at the 39th Berlin Film Festival in 1989 for her role in this film which tells the story about French sculptor Camille Claudel (1864-1943) and her relationship with impressionist sculptor Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) who became her teacher and lover during the early 19th century in Paris, France before the First World War.With warm, colorful visuals, atmospheric music and detailed milieu depictions, this precisely filmed character-driven drama finely captures the era it portrays and the development of an historic figure who became a true artist. Isabelle Adjani's interpretation of an ardent and self-disciplined young woman raised in a middle-class family who struggled with her art and with her love is remarkable, and so is Gérard Depardieu's performance as the love of her life Auguste Rodin. Their acting is solely reason enough to see this interesting and well told biographical period piece which centres on an unusually crafted love-story between two great artists.

The familiar line dividing creativity and madness narrows and disappears in this downbeat but dramatic biography of the 19th century sculptress, who after meeting Auguste Rodin went from apprentice to mistress to madwoman, driven to the asylum and professional obscurity by her inability to escape from under the shadow of her celebrated lover. Isabelle Adjani gives the title character a headstrong, stubborn vitality that turns electrifying as she loses her sanity; in contrast, Rodin (pronounced by an associate "the biggest lecher since Victor Hugo") fades into the background clay, and not even the reliable Gerard Depardieu can flesh out the underwritten role. The film is beautifully produced, and even at such a punishing length (almost two and a half hours) the pace never flags. It moves twice as quickly as any film half its length, using a brisk, hopscotch style that almost seems rushed trying to get all the facts in.

I saw this movie long time ago in new york city i am a big fan of Isabelle Adjani, i love the movie very much at the time I know Rodin but little about Camille Claudel, she was a very talented woman over shadow by her husband fame and abuse and more . over shadow by the time she live in, Isabelle Adjani was amazing i think this is one of her best performance ever, Adjani maybe the best actress of the cinema of today she has done great work before and after this movie but this is my favorite , she was nominate for an Oscar as best actress and won a Cesar she won more Cesar as best actress than any other actress in France history, i have to said she is Brigitte Bardot favorite actress and she played Bardot in the movie Monsier Abrahim, Gerard Depardieu is Rodin in this great movie . Isabelle is always a pleasure to watch sadly she is not making many movies lately, i wish she does she is very gifted as an actress and we the fans all over the world deserve more movies from her, please isabelle never retire we need you .you are the best of all

This is one of the films I actually would give more than 10 points ! Judging from other comments, it seems that people either love this film very much, or they hate it. I was particularly impressed by Isabelle Adjani's performance as an artist and lover of Rodin who changed between devotion and obsession. Until I saw that film I had the impression that her (IA's) most important task in films was to look good. Admittedly, I did not know that many films with her in it. And she was, and is, pretty good at fulfilling that task. Her multi-faceted role as Camille Claudel was truly spectacular, considerably better than that of her colleague Gérard Depardieu who, nevertheless, was quite impressive as Rodin.