| Rodin | |
|---|---|
 Film poster | |
| Directed by | Jacques Doillon |
| Written by | Jacques Doillon |
| Starring | Vincent Lindon |
| Cinematography | Christophe Beaucarne |
| Music by | Philippe Sarde |
Release dates |
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Running time | 119 minutes |
| Countries | France Belgium |
| Language | French |
Rodin is a 2017 drama film directed by Jacques Doillon. It was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or in the main competition section at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival. [1] [2] The film received generally negative reviews from the major aggregator surveys.
Auguste Rodin has become among the most celebrated sculptors in the world at the turn of the century and continues to win commissions for major sculptures such as Monument to Balzac , The Kiss , The Burghers of Calais , and The Gates of Hell . His career has progressed to the point where he keeps a major studio operating with multiple students and many models constantly in the studio as he progresses on his current projects. Though a significant success artistically, Rodin's personal life has suffered setbacks. His relationship with his wife has become colder over the years and Rodin takes up a relationship with a younger female sculptor who fills an emotional emptiness which he experiences with his wife.
Rodin goes to visit Honore Balzac to discuss making a life-size sculpture of the prominent French author. His original conception is to see the author as a primal literary figure whom he envisions as standing in a heroic posture and in the nude. As his conceptual drawings for the sculpture progress, Rodin then takes up the preliminary design of the molding structures which will support the sculpture which will grow to its full size as it progresses toward completion. Rodin does not have the benefit of Balzac as a live model for the sculpture and relies on a pregnant model posing in the nude in the heroic pose which Rodin wished to use for the sculpture. Rodin uses the increased mass of the pregnancy to mimick the somewhat oversized girth which Balzac's overweight figure obtained in older age. Meanwhile, his female sculpture assistant, Camille Claudel, confronts him about the prospects of their relationship which has become explicitly intimate, and Rodin tells her that she occupies an unrivaled place in his affections. She confronts him in order for him to sign a paper stating his intentions to leave his wife and marry her which Rodin agrees to do and signs before her eyes.
Rodin's wife is conscious of the fact that her husband is less than faithful and that their relationship has grown colder with the years and with her rapidly diminishing attractiveness and loss of youth. Rodin is uncommunicative about the issue and feels that he should live as if in an open marriage. He continues his relationship with the female sculptor and his wife begins to gather information about his mistress apparently with a mind to confronting her about the realities of Rodin's personal life and family. When the Balzac statue reaches its subsequent stages of completion, Rodin calls the commissioning parties to do a preliminary review of the statue. Their response is unanimously negative and stark in its disapproval. Before them they see an oversized and almost grotesquely obese version of the celebrated French author. The commissioning parties are especially disturbed by the prominently featured male organs which Rodin spent special effort to prominently display. There is no question left in the mind of the reviewers that the statue is to be fully rejected as both poorly conceived by Balzac and poorly executed. Balzac is deeply disturbed by the review though he remains silent through much of the criticism.
His wife has discovered the address of where Balzac's female sculptor friend is staying and goes to confront her. The meeting sours very quickly with verbal animosity overcoming both the wife and the mistress as they try to face each other down. They part company in a high state of distress, and Rodin's mistress then later confronts Rodin about his promises to her about starting a new life with her and leaving his wife. Rodin contemplates for a further moment and states that an ultimatum at this time does not work him or for his career and he decides that they must part ways. Although Rodin remains profligate in his sexual openness with his other models, he still nonetheless at least partially reconciles with his wife and the two continue to make their home together.
Rodin's contemplation about the Balzac statue has been ponderous and one day in his studio he gets help from one of his students to immerse an oversized men's overcoat into a clay bath in order to fully drench it in the wet composite of clay in order to prepare its application. Rodin decides that he will apply the wet clay overcoat by draping over the shoulders of the nude Balzac statue, thereby covering the original nudity of the preliminary pose of the statue and fully covering over the nude male organs which had offended the commissioning parties at the time of the first review. He allows the draped coat to dry and the completed statue takes its final form which he keeps in his country garden in his home outside of town away from his studio. As the film ends, the statue is seen years later in Japan where it is displayed in the Museum of the Open Air (Hakone Open-Air Museum) for the public to contemplate and admire.
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 32%, based on 41 reviews with an average rating of 4.8/10. The website's critical consensus states, "Rodin falls prey to the most common pitfall of artist biopics: depicting creative work without ever really unlocking what it means or why it's important." [3] Metacritic gives the film a weighted average score of 39 out of 100, based on 14 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". [4]
François Auguste René Rodin was a French sculptor, generally considered the founder of modern sculpture. He was schooled traditionally and took a craftsman-like approach to his work. Rodin possessed a unique ability to model a complex, turbulent, and deeply pocketed surface in clay. He is known for such sculptures as The Thinker, Monument to Balzac, The Kiss, The Burghers of Calais, and The Gates of Hell.
Camille Rosalie Claudel was a French sculptor known for her figurative works in bronze and marble. She died in relative obscurity, but later gained recognition for the originality and quality of her work. The subject of several biographies and films, Claudel is well known for her sculptures including The Waltz and The Mature Age.
Camille Claudel is a 1988 French biographical drama film about the life of 19th-century sculptor Camille Claudel. The film was based on the book by Reine-Marie Paris, granddaughter of Camille's brother, the poet and diplomat Paul Claudel. It was directed by Bruno Nuytten, co-produced by Isabelle Adjani, and starred her and Gérard Depardieu. The film had a total of 2,717,136 admissions in France. Adjani was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role, the second in her career.
The Musée Rodin in Paris, France, is an art museum that was opened in 1919, primarily dedicated to the works of the French sculptor Auguste Rodin. It has two sites: the Hôtel Biron and surrounding grounds in central Paris, as well as just outside Paris at Rodin's old home, the Villa des Brillants at Meudon, Hauts-de-Seine. The collection includes 6,600 sculptures, 8,000 drawings, 8,000 old photographs and 7,000 objets d'art. The museum receives 700,000 visitors annually.
An art model poses, often nude, for visual artists as part of the creative process, providing a reference for the human body in a work of art. As an occupation, modeling requires the often strenuous 'physical work' of holding poses for the required length of time, the 'aesthetic work' of performing a variety of interesting poses, and the 'emotional work' of maintaining a socially ambiguous role. While the role of nude models is well-established as a necessary part of artistic practice, public nudity remains transgressive, and models may be vulnerable to stigmatization or exploitation. Artists may also have family and friends pose for them, in particular for works with costumed figures.
Alfred Boucher was a French sculptor who was a mentor to Camille Claudel and a friend of Auguste Rodin.
Jessie Lipscomb, later Jessie Elborne, was an English sculptor of the human figure. She worked in Paris in a shared studio workshop in the late 1800s with French sculptor Camille Claudel and two fellow alumni from the Royal College of Art: Amy Singer and Emily Fawcett.
Camille Claudel is a musical with a book and lyrics by Nan Knighton and music by Frank Wildhorn, their second musical. It is based on the life of the real-life French sculptor and graphic artist Camille Claudel. The musical premiered at Goodspeed Musicals in 2003.
Monument to Balzac is a sculpture by Auguste Rodin in memory of the French novelist Honoré de Balzac. According to Rodin, the sculpture aims to portray the writer's persona rather than a physical likeness. The work was commissioned in 1891 by the Société des Gens de Lettres, a full-size plaster model was displayed in 1898 at a Salon in Champ de Mars. After coming under criticism the model was rejected by the société and Rodin moved it to his home in Meudon. On 2 July 1939 the model was cast in bronze for the first time and placed on the Boulevard du Montparnasse at the intersection with Boulevard Raspail.
The Mature Age, also named Destiny, The Path of Life or Fatality (1894–1900) is a sculpture by French artist Camille Claudel. The work was commissioned by the French government in 1895, but the commission was cancelled in 1899 before a bronze was cast. A plaster version of the sculpture was exhibited in 1899, and then cast in bronze privately in 1902. A second private bronze casting was made in 1913, and it is thought that the plaster version was destroyed at that time.
Perseus and the Gorgon is a 1902 monumental sculpture by Camille Claudel that portrays a scene from Greek mythology. The artist sculpted her own likeness for Medusa's face, in anger after the break-up of her romantic partnership with sculptor Auguste Rodin. The work achieved a great notoriety throughout the years.
Camille Claudel 1915 is a 2013 French biographical film written and directed by Bruno Dumont. The film premiered in competition at the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival.
Eternal Springtime is a c. 1884 sculpture by the French artist Auguste Rodin, depicting a pair of lovers. It was created at the same time as The Gates of Hell and originally intended to be part of it. One of its rare 19th-century original casts belongs to the permanent collection of Calouste Gulbenkian Museum.
Balzac in the Robe of a Dominican Monk is a bronze sculpture by French artist Auguste Rodin, one of the studies made in preparation to the Monument to Balzac, a tribute to novelist Honoré de Balzac commissioned by the Society of Men of Letters of France in 1891.
Head of Camille Claudel is a polychrome glass paste sculpture by the French artist Auguste Rodin, conceived in 1884 and executed in 1911. It is now in the Museo Soumaya in Mexico City. It shows his then studio assistant Camille Claudel in a Phrygian cap.
The Succubus is a bronze sculpture with a green and dark brown patina. It was originally conceived in 1889 by the French artist Auguste Rodin as part of a set of works showing sirens and Nereids. It later formed part of his state-commissioned monument to Victor Hugo. It is now in the Museo Soumaya in Mexico City.
The Waltz or The Waltzers is a sculpture by French artist Camille Claudel. It depicts two figures, a man and a woman, locked in an amorous embrace as they dance a waltz. The work was inspired by Claudel's burgeoning love affair with her mentor and employer Auguste Rodin. Various versions were made from 1889 to 1905, initially modelled in plaster, and later cast in bronze. Examples are held by the Musée Rodin and the Musée Camille Claudel.
The Musée Camille Claudel is a French national museum which honors and exhibits the art of sculptor Camille Claudel. The museum displays approximately half of Claudel's existing artwork. The Claudel museum was opened in 2017 in her teenage home town of Nogent-sur-Seine, 100 kilometers southeast of Paris.
Sakuntala, also known as Sakountala or Çacountala, is a sculpture by the French artist Camille Claudel, made in several versions in different media from 1886, with a marble version completed in 1905, and bronze castings made from 1905. The sculpture depicts a young couple, with a kneeling man embracing a woman leaning towards him. It was named after the play Shakuntala by the 4th-5th century Indian poet Kālidāsa, and is inspired by the moment when the title character Shakuntala is reunited with her husband Dushyanta after a long separation.
Rose Beuret was a French seamstress and laundress, known to have been one of the muses and, for 53 years, the companion of Auguste Rodin, whom she married just weeks before her death in 1917.
