Saturday, November 6, 2021

Rodin (2017)

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rodin is a historical and biographical drama (based on a true story) which premiered in 2017.

 

It is about the famous French artist Auguste Rodin (1840-1917). Here is some basic information about this drama:

 

** Writer & director: Jacques Doillon

** Producer: Kristina Larsen

** Soundtrack: French

** Subtitles: French

** Run time: 120 minutes

 

The cast includes the following:

 

** Vincent Lindon as Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) – a sculptor

** Izïa Higelin as Camille Claudel (1864-1943) – a sculptor – Rodin’s muse and lover

** Séverine Caneele as Rose Beuret (1844-1917) – Rodin’s common-law wife

** Bernard Verley as Victor Hugo (1802-1885) - an author

** Arthur Nauzyciel as Paul Cézanne (1839-1906) - a painter

** Laurent Poitrenaux as Octave Mirbeau (1848-1917) – a journalist

** Olivier Cadiot as Claude Monet (1840-1926) – a painter

** Lea Jackson as Jessie Lipscomb (1861-1952) – Camille’s friend from England – an artist

** Maxence Tual as Eugène Blot – an art dealer who arranged some exhibitions for Camille Claudel

 

What do reviewers say about this historical drama? Here is what I found when I checked the ratings back in 2018:

 

** 47 percent = IMDb

** 26 percent = Meta

** 16 percent = Rotten Tomatoes

 

Since then, the ratings have gone up. Here is what they say today (November 2021):


50 percent = IMDb

39 percent = Meta

32 percent = Rotten tomatoes (the critics)

20 percent = Rotten tomatoes (the audience)

 

As you can see, the ratings are not great. Even though they have gone up since 2018, they are still poor. 

 

While the professional critics of Rotten Tomatoes have raised the rating from 16 to 32, the general audience stands firm and offers a rating of only 20 percent.

 

Is the it really so bad? Does it really deserve so low ratings? If you ask me, the answer is yes. The low ratings which I found in 2018 were fully justified. I cannot understand why the ratings have gone up since then. There is absolutely no reason to offer a better rating.

 

This must be one of the worst movies I have ever seen. It reminds me of Mr. Turner – a movie about the famous English painter J. M. W. Turner – which premiered in 2014.

 

One scene follows after another, but they are not connected. It is just a long line of episodes – one after the other – but there is no story line.

 

Rodin walks around in his studio. He is a big man with a big beard. We see some of his works, including The Gates of Hell, which was a major project. He worked on this for forty years, but it was never completed.

 

People come and go in the studio. Some are men who all look the same: they wear a suit and have a beard. Some are women who take off their clothes and throw themselves at Rodin, which is hard to understand, because he does not seem very charming.

 

On the Roger Ebert website, Barbara Scharres sums up the essence of this movie with the following words:

 

“Extravagant care has been taken to reproduce Rodin’s studio and a vast body of his work, but dramatically the film is dead in the water.”

 

Rodin was a great artist. But this drama about his life and works of art is not a great work of art. It is simply boring.

 

I had high hopes for this movie. Unfortunately, they were not fulfilled.

 

Do not waste your time! 

 

Do not waste your money on this product!

 

REFERENCES

 

** Camille Claudel is a historical and biographical drama about the life and career of Camille Claudel, Rodin’s muse and lover, who was also an artist. This movie from 1988 has good ratings: IMDb 73 percent; Rotten Tomatoes 100 percent.

 

** Camille Claudel 1915 is a historical drama about Camille Claudel and her life as a patient in a mental hospital in the south of France. This movie from 2013 has good ratings: IMDb 65 percent; Rotten Tomatoes 80 percent.

 

** Paris Kiss by Maggie Ritchie is a historical novel about Camille Claudel, Auguste Rodin, and Camille’s friend from England, Jessie Lipscomb. It was published in 2015.

 

*****

 


The Thinker 

(1904)

 

***** 



The Burghers of Calais

(1889)


*****



The Rodin Museum in Paris

(Established 1919)

*****



No comments:

Post a Comment