Movie · 1988 · Drama, History, Romance · 2h 55m · R · French
Curator score: 6.7/10 (14.1K ratings)
Overview
The life of Camille Claudel, a French sculptor who becomes the apprentice of Auguste Rodin and later his lover. Her passion for her art and Rodin drive her further away from reason and rationality.
Ratings
Curator score: 6.7/10
IMDb: 7.3/10
Letterboxd: 3.70/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 90%
TMDB: 6.8/10
Director
Bruno Nuytten
Production
DD Productions, Les Films Christian Fechner, Lilith Films I.A., Gaumont, France 2, Films A2
Cast
Isabelle Adjani, Gérard Depardieu, Laurent Grévill, Alain Cuny, Roch Leibovici, Madeleine Robinson, Philippe Clévenot, Katrine Boorman, Maxime Leroux, Danièle Lebrun, Jean-Pierre Sentier, Roger Planchon, Aurelle Doazan, Madeleine Marie, Gérard Baume, Martin Berléand, Ariane Kah, Hester Wilcox, François Berléand
Where to watch
OVID, Kino Film Collection
Curator Review
Verdict
A richly acted, emotionally severe biographical drama that treats Camille Claudel as a true artistic force rather than a footnote to Rodin. It’s long, stately, and often harrowing, but the performances, period detail, and tragic intensity make it rewarding for viewers who like prestige historical dramas with a strong psychological edge.
Best for
fans of intense art-world biopics
viewers drawn to tragic women’s stories
people who appreciate long, serious French period dramas
audiences interested in mental illness portrayed through a historical lens
fans of Isabelle Adjani or Gérard Depardieu
Skip if
you want a brisk or lightly paced film
you prefer uplifting or neatly resolved biographies
you’re not in the mood for a bleak descent into obsession and institutionalization
you dislike long, dialogue-heavy historical dramas
Overview
Camille Claudel is the kind of biopic that insists on the scale of its subject’s talent and suffering. It frames Camille not as a romantic accessory to Rodin, but as an artist with her own ferocious vision, and that distinction gives the film its force. Isabelle Adjani’s performance is the engine: volatile, proud, wounded, and increasingly consumed by the gap between genius and recognition.
Worth noting
Bruno Nuytten’s background as a cinematographer shows in the film’s painterly surfaces and sculptural compositions. The art-making is tactile and physical, and the movie understands that creation can look like labor, desire, and self-destruction all at once. Its length and solemnity can feel heavy, but the emotional commitment is real.
Bottom line
What lingers most is the tragedy of a life narrowed by patriarchy, obsession, and illness. The film can be old-fashioned in structure, yet it remains compelling because it refuses to flatten Camille into a martyr. It gives her grandeur, anger, and contradiction, which is exactly what the story needs.
Top Letterboxd reviews
leksie (4★) · 270 likes
As a mentally ill bitch I gotta say Isabelle Adjani is the queen of playing mentally ill bitches
phoebe 💫 (4.5★) · 96 likes
Opening this with Camille, all of twenty, feverishly digging up clay in the dead of night for a sculpture and showing her doing things like enthusing over different types of marble or yelling "RODIN!" up at Gerard Depardieu's mansion like Marlon Brando in Streetcar really made me realize how her genius is portrayed in a way that is usually reserved for men. She's never condescended to, and the sheer empowerment of her brilliance is strong enough to carry the entire movie, which - fortunately - it doesn't have to as it's a stunning film, beautifully shot and well-acted, with an amazing soundtrack to boot.
chavel (2.5★) · 77 likes
Something about me wants to kneel at the altar in worship of Isabelle Adjani. She is so supremely talented that my eyes are locked intensely on her even when she’s in a shot just reacting; here she reacts to a lot of stuffy, self-important Frenchmen. In this biopic of famous 19th century sculptor Camille Claudel, the actress shares a turbulent relationship with Gerard Depardieu as the famous artist and braggadocio Auguste Rodin, and she gives another performance where she starts… more Something about me wants to kneel at the altar in worship of Isabelle Adjani. She is so supremely talented that my eyes are locked intensely on her even when she’s in a shot just reacting; here she reacts to a lot of stuffy, self-important Frenchmen. In this biopic of famous 19th century sculptor Camille Claudel, the actress shares a turbulent relationship with Gerard Depardieu as the famous artist and braggadocio Auguste Rodin, and she gives another performance where she starts… more
iolandampi (4★) · 43 likes
I gave him my toughness. He gave me his emptiness in return. There you are... three times me. The Holy Trinity, trinity of emptiness.
teamgal (3.5★) · 33 likes
The only real art in this stodgy, overly-pious biopic of the sculptor Camille Claudel is Isabelle Adjani's. Here she delivers one of her patented, go-for-broke crazy ladies. What she does, as an actress, during this film's third hour is herculean.
César Awards, Every Best Picture Nominee
Not tonally similar, but it shares feverish romantic intensity and a sense of artistic excess.
Topics
French period drama, biographical tragedy, art world, sculpture, psychological descent, romantic obsession, female artist, 19th century, prestige drama, melancholic