Rodin
Jacques Doillon
France, Belgium
CRITICAL RESPONSE
“Jacques Doillon delivers a useful educational tool for the armchair traveler too lazy to go to a museum. Or read a book. What it’s not so good for is a cinema audience expecting more than a plodding two-hour lesson in the artist’s life.” – Jay Weissberg (Variety)
“It’s all quite dull and belabored despite the immense passion Rodin is shown putting into his work (as well as into his sex life), and ultimately the sculptor comes across as too much of a windbag to allow his creations to speak for themselves. For a film meant to champion the powers of three-dimensional art, Rodin winds up being awfully flat.” – Jordan Mintzer (The Hollywood Reporter)
“Jacques Doillon’s fastidiously executed labour of love focuses on the tangled relationship between sculptor Auguste Rodin and Camille Claudel but is more engaging when it grapples with the ideas and themes that made Rodin such a radical force in sculpture… It is just a shame that with all his good intentions, Doillon is unable to emulate those grand designs.” – Allan Hunter (Screen Daily)
PRIZE POTENTIAL
Jacques Doillon first came to Cannes in competition nearly 40 years ago with La drôlesse, and again in 1984 with La pirate. Pretty certain that Rodin will go down as one of the worst films to compete for the Palme d’Or this year, and will not be handed any prizes. Even the commanding Vincent Lindon (who won a couple of years back for The Measure of a Man) in the lead role will likely be ignored here.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqOXaOwwnWk?rel=0&w=640&h=360]
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsKbAo-_v5U?rel=0&w=640&h=360]
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYHzcmkz6Ro&w=640&h=360]
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=333juL-sv6c&w=640&h=360]