Camille Claudel 1915

Bruno Dumont's "Camille Claudel 1915" is 2013's undiscovered masterpiece. The film is a perfect marriage of a director's austere vision and actress showcase with Juliette Binoche's raw, poetic portrayal of the great French sculptress, middle-aged and institutionalized in an asylum ran by nuns.

Paranoid over her once illicit relationship with famed sculpture Auguste Rodin (she insists she cook her own food out of fear of being poisoned), its painfully obvious that Claudel's shifty, manic (but still very conscious) mind has perhaps stymied her gift for good. In one remarkable scene, Camille picks up a patch of dirt with the thickness of clay, and hearing the birds chirp in a tree, she tries to sculpt a sparrow and the earth just slips through the cracks of her fingers. Binoche makes it heartbreaking.

Dumont has made his art-house rep blending the rigid formal constraints of his grand forefather Robert Bresson with elements of the French Extreme cinema that emerged in the late 90's. In his films like "29 Palms" and "Flanders", behavior, often savage, is there to be observed not explained, and psychology is to be revoked. In the end we have actions, not characters. Not true in "Camille Claudel 1915". Bresson is very much there, but there is a bit of a Bergman and a Dreyer influence as well in its seeming religious objectivity (Dumont proves an expert of the pained close-up). We become familiar with Camille's day to day existence on the inside and out, and sensitive toward those 'truly' mentally ill that surround her.

The compassion and care of the nuns in the asylum toward the inhabitants is contrary to the fundamentalist extremism of Camille's brother Paul, the man responsible for her imprisonment. The film's only shocking moment comes when he explains to the asylum's priest that he became a Christian after being inspired by the poetry of Rimbaud, as we know Rimbaud's life and art was far more blasphemous than Claudel's.

Although more accessible than his previous work, Dumont's film will bore many viewers. Nowhere is it entertaining in any traditional Americanized sense. But anyone whose already familiar with Dumont, anyone that's felt levitated by Dreyer, Bresson or Bergman, anyone whose been a fan of Binoche and her acting, will be moved by this film as I was.

The only other Bruno Dumont film I've seen is the bizarre and shocking Twentynine Palms so knowing Camille Claudel 1915 is about an insane asylum, it's difficult to not expect something that will rock me to my core. However, Camille is surprisingly restrained. While this feels like a mature approach at times, it can too often feel like it's too weak on its themes of religion, sanity and art when there's such potential. A little more focus and clarity could've saved what would be a great film. What ends up making the film is Juliette Binoche's committed performance that provides a unique perspective into a personal hell. She certainly deserves to be called one of the best actresses of all-time and this just confirms it further. It's beautifully shot and constructed, but then this leads to it feeling too measured and thus too forced when it could've been much better if it was allowed to breathe naturally. It's a very interesting film, but I can't help that it needn't been as empty as it was.

7/10

Nominated for the Golden Bear at Berlin, Camille Claudel, 1915, the latest film by French auteur Bruno Dumont, is arguably his best realized and most accessible work since La Vie de Jesus and L'humanité in the late 1990s. Juliet Binoche delivers a masterful performance as sculptor and graphic artist Camille Claudel, mistress of Auguste Rodin, who was confined to an asylum at Montdevergues near Avignon in 1914 after an emotional collapse. Derived from Camille's medical records and private letters to her brother, poet and staunch Catholic Paul Claudel (Jean-Luc Vincent), the film takes place over a period of three days in the asylum where we experience the oppressive nature of Camille's routines, lightened only by the inmates attempt at performing the play Don Juan.

Although Dumont uses mentally-disabled patients and their nurses as actors, there is no hint of exploitation and they are only used to draw a sharp contrast between Camille and the seriously ill. Considered to be a great but unrecognized feminist artist (usually only discussed in relation to Rodin), Camille is filled with despair and depression at her confinement but looks forward with anticipation to the impending visit from Paul. Though much of the film has a strong impact, the sequences in which Camille pleads with her doctor (Robert Leroy) and with Paul for her release reach the heights of Dumont's consummate artistry.

In spite of the fact, however, that the head doctor feels she could be re-integrated into society, her mother and self-absorbed brother ignore her pleas and refuse to relinquish their tight control. Though Camille's paranoia is evident in these scenes (she insists on preparing her own food for fear of being poisoned), the power of Ms. Binoche's performance allows Camille's intelligence and true stature as an artist to shine through. Austere and unforgiving in the mold of Alain Cavalier's Therese, Camille Claudel, 1915 can be compared to the films of Robert Bresson in its long silences, spiritual depth, and uncompromising integrity. Viewing can be a harrowing and uncomfortable experience, but the same can also be said about many great works of art.

Camille Claudel was a successful artist who had an affair with Rodin. She had mental health problems and was placed in an asylum by her family. Whether this was intended to resolve Camille's problem or remove Camille as a problem is left for debate.

The film tells the story of her life in the asylum, her desire to leave and her unhappiness. We gain an insight into the artist's mind and the world of the asylum. Juliet Binoche's acting is excellent and the use of patients and staff from an asylum works well although is potentially controversial.

However, the film is slow and is too long for the little is actually revealed in 95 minutes of screen time. More back story and context is needed to provide reasons for sympathising with the main character and sticking with the film.

Camille Claudel (Juliette Binoche) was born in 1864. She was a sculptress and also Rodin's mistress for 15 years. She became a recluse after breaking up with him. With the death of her father in 1913, her family confines her to Montdevergues Asylum near Avignon in 1915. She is paranoid about being poisoned, fears persecution from Rodin and thinks her family is greedy for her inheritance.

There is a lot of waiting for something to happen. It's funny that Camille claims that they're trying to bore her to death. The movie gets that point across very well. Juliette Binoche is amazing. The scene where she lays out all of her persecutions to her doctor is electric. However, it's only one scene and one great actress. It's not more than that.