Camille Claudel 1915

Plot

At the end of her career the sculptor Camille Claudel seems to suffer with mental issues. She destroys more than once her own statues and utters repeatedly that her former lover Auguste Rodin intended to make her life miserable. Consequently her younger brother Paul sends her to an asylum in the outskirts of Avignon. Claudel tries to convince her doctor she is perfectly sane, while living among patients who obviously are not. She is desperate to see her brother again, hoping he might eventually support her plea.

Cast

Reception

According to Cine Vue's Patrick Gamble the filmmaker Bruno Dumont has delivered an "incredibly compassionate and humble observation of a tortured artist". Variety's Guy Lodge described the film as a "moving account of a brief period in the later life of the troubled sculptress" and appreciated Juliette Binoche's impersonation of Camille Claudel as nothing less than "mesmerising". Screen International's Jonathan Romney ranked this film as "an amplification and indeed a deepening" of Dumont's hitherto existing accomplishments and artistic impact. Eric Kohn of IndieWire stated the film had a "concision" which displayed "an exactitude worthy of Robert Bresson". Analysing the film in depth for The Hollywood Reporter, Jordan Mintzer summed up the film in his "bottom line": "An unsettling portrait of the artist as a mad woman, anchored by a riveting lead performance".