Camille Claudel

Cinematographer Bruno Nuytten (Jean de Florette, Manon of the Spring) tries his hand at directing in this lavish, stately paced, biographical film about 19th-century French sculptress Camille Claudel (Isabelle Adjani), and her ill-fated romance with Auguste Rodin (Gerard Depardieu). The story begins in 1885, when Camille meets Rodin, and becomes first, his apprentice, and later, his lover. Putting her own work and aspirations behind her, Camille devotes her whole being to helping Rodin. Eventually, she asks him to leave his mistress Rose. When Rodin refuses, Camille goes her own way--becoming a mad recluse, and continuously accusing "the Rodin gang" of conspiracy to undermine her work. Nominated for Best Foreign Film and Best Actress (Adjani), Camille Claudel, for all of its volatile subject matter, seems to me a strangely subdued, almost hollow, film. Yet, because of the excellent cinematography, the superb attention to the subtitling, and the easy-to-follow soap opera dramatic structure, this film is unquestionably one of the most accessible foreign films for general patrons available. If viewers can overlook (which I could not) the silly clichés about art, which fly fast and furious throughout the first half of the film especially, I suspect that most will enjoy this historical story of a woman who gave up her art for love, and lost everything. Recommended. (R. Pitman) [Blu-ray/DVD Review—Dec. 31, 2019—Kino Lorber, 173 min., in French w/English subtitles, not rated, DVD: $19.99, Blu-ray: $29.99—Making its latest appearance on DVD and debut on Blu-ray, 1988’s Camille Claudel features a fine transfer and a DTS-HD 2.0 soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition. Extras include audio commentary by film historian Samm Deighan, and a booklet with an essay by film critic Abbey Bender. Bottom line: a mostly solid bio-pic makes a welcome debut on Blu-ray.]