This is a very serious drama about the life of a sculptress who eventually went mad. I think it's rather interesting that Isabelle Adjani was chosen for the role, as a decade earlier she played the obsessed daughter of Victor Hugo (who also was eventually institutionalized). BOTH characters were based on real women, both lived around the same time period, both were French, both suffered the same fate and both completely lost contact with reality and their personalities disintegrated in the end.
In the case of this movie, Camille suffers from Paranoid Schizophrenia (with signs of Disorganized Schizophrenia as well), as her problems in life all are the "result of August Rodin and people that work for him to help him destroy her career". While it is obvious from the movie that Rodin was a slug and mistreated her because he was a narcissistic, beyond sleeping with her and casting her aside, there was no plot by him to ruin her career. But, unfortunately Camille created an involved delusion that this was so--blaming her failures on him and not the fact that she was erratic and acted "crazy" (living in filth, having the entire first floor of her home flooded and doing nothing about it, etc.). I liked how Adjani handled this but I was especially impressed by the makeup people who made her look very haggard and old--she looked the part.
This is NOT a "feel good movie" by any stretch of the imagination. However, it is well-made and compelling and well worth seeing and a good study of mental illness.
NOTE TO PARENTS--the film has quite a bit of nudity. While it is NOT gratuitous at all (after all, sculpting often requires nude models), this film would probably be best seen by adults.
In the case of this movie, Camille suffers from Paranoid Schizophrenia (with signs of Disorganized Schizophrenia as well), as her problems in life all are the "result of August Rodin and people that work for him to help him destroy her career". While it is obvious from the movie that Rodin was a slug and mistreated her because he was a narcissistic, beyond sleeping with her and casting her aside, there was no plot by him to ruin her career. But, unfortunately Camille created an involved delusion that this was so--blaming her failures on him and not the fact that she was erratic and acted "crazy" (living in filth, having the entire first floor of her home flooded and doing nothing about it, etc.). I liked how Adjani handled this but I was especially impressed by the makeup people who made her look very haggard and old--she looked the part.
This is NOT a "feel good movie" by any stretch of the imagination. However, it is well-made and compelling and well worth seeing and a good study of mental illness.
NOTE TO PARENTS--the film has quite a bit of nudity. While it is NOT gratuitous at all (after all, sculpting often requires nude models), this film would probably be best seen by adults.