CAMILLE À CORPS PERDU - REVIEW & INTERVIEW
After her breakup with Auguste Rodin, sculptor Camille Claudel lives isolated in her workshop. One night, as her grief becomes spite then hatred, Camille’s sculptures come alive and drag her into a hellish dance – to unleash her from Rodin’s poisoned stranglehold, or to bring her to the brink of madness ?
The play of shadow and light bring a real coherence towards the psychology of the character of Camille (played by Eline Vey) plunged into a disturbing sentimental distress. The misty blues dominate the pictorial hues, symbol could be said of the coldness of souls but also of the dream of the night. The film is similar at times to the work of Bertrand Mandico but also of Tim Burton.
HFF: Why did you choose this artistic subject about Camille Claudel?
AD: Camille is a figure whose art and story deeply touch me. In her works, beyond undeniable virtuosity, I can feel so much rawness, such deep sensitivity (à fleur de peau as we would say in French)… which becomes so heartbreaking when you know her tragic fate.
The ambiguity on the true nature of her madness (was it real, or assigned on her impulsivity and outrageousness by a century where hysteria is a female disease) also really speaks to me. I believe there was an undeniable mental suffering in her ; and I wanted to make a film that would explore her tormented interiority, in a suspended, out-of-time moment. Because what I find beautiful and want to believe, is that she found in artistic expression (at least for a little while), a cathartic way out.
This is what I chose to depict in my film : this double-edged turning point. This moment where she transcended her rage to achieve some form of peace with herself, but also this moment where she reached a point of no return, and sealed her fate.
But the idea of the film mostly comes from my love for contemporary dance. I’ve been a dancer since age six, and as far back as my desire for cinema goes, there’s the urge to film dance. I love the idea that the body can say what words won’t ; and with the sensorial porosity and evocative force that cinema, sculpture and dance share, the figure of Camille Claudel as the subject of my first choreographic film was an obvious choice.
HFF: Who are your favorite artists (sculptors, painters)?
AD: My latest Stendhal syndrome was Disintegration, a series of portraits painted by Andrzej Dybowski ; but my absolute favorite painter is Zdzislaw Beksinski.
HFF: How was the project funded? By your school?
AD: This project was mostly crowdfunded through Ulule, and my school contributed a 1500 euros budget and provided the filming, lighting and sound recording equipment on set, as well as the postproduction premises.
HFF: In order to capture the precise movements of the actors during the dance sequences, had you worked with several cameras?
AD: No ! For the main dance sequence we had a steadycamer on set, but we only had one camera rolling at a time.
HFF: How did you train your team of actors-dancers? Had you hire a choreographer?
AD: We took a full week of preparation and rehearsals to create the entire choreography. My second assistant director, who is an experienced ballet dancer, took the role of rehearsal director when I had to go prepare with the rest of the filming crew ; but it was very important to me that the choreography was a collective work, created by the dancers, the lead actress and myself. This week of creation was my favorite part of the preproduction process.
HFF: On the set, how did you work your choreography scenes?
AD: We had rehearsed the dance scenes with the filming crew before shooting, so we were well-prepared and the process was quite smooth. For the last day of shooting with the dancers, I wanted to give them the space to improvise in front of the camera, first one by one then all together. The power and energy of the two takes we made was electrifying, it was a wonderful moment. Camille’s solo right at the end of the film was also improvised ; I gave Eline a few specific directions (how to direct her eyes beyond the world, to play with the clay and sculpt her own body) and allowed the lead camera operator to follow her movements freely. I’m really happy with how this scene turned out, I feel like we really managed to capture something very special !
HFF: Tell us about your main actress, what prompted you to hire her for the role?
AD: I met Eline while I was assistant director on a short film in my first year of film school ; she wasn’t selected for the part, but she left a very strong impression on me. I feel Eline has an incredible presence and charisma, but also a wonderful personality, which is very important for me – when I assemble my team, I really want to create a caring and warm atmosphere on set ; so everyone feels comfortable and allows themselves to go all-in, be vulnerable and bring their own sensitivity and creativity to the film. Cinema is a collective work after all ! With Eline, we also have a lot in common in our artistic sensibilities : contemporary dance, sculpture, painting… It’s a match made in heaven, and I can’t wait to work with her again on my next films !
HFF: In what city and place was your film shot?
AD: We shot the film in Lyon, in an abandoned orangery hidden right behind our school !
HFF: Was the music preconceived on the set?
AD: No ! Colombine Jacquemont, who composed the music, wasn’t available during the preproduction, so we created the choreography with the short demos she had already made, and temp-music. Colombine composed the entire definitive score only after the film was edited.
HFF: What were your cinematographic references for staging? Maybe Bertrand Mandico or Tim Burton ?
AD: My only cinematographic reference for this film was 1988 Camille Claudel by Bruno Nuytten, with Isabelle Adjani as Camille. All my other main references were from contemporary dance : Hofesh Shechter for the primal violence and lighting work, Pina Bausch and Olivier de Sagazan for the use of dirt and clay, and Ohad Naharin for the precision and rawness of movement.
HFF: How did you design the bust of Rodin and the costumes?
AD: The bust of Rodin was entrusted to Marion Rousseau, a very talented sculptor from Lille. She based her work on the most famous bust sculpted by Camille herself. Marion deserves some special praise : she managed to sculpt three different busts in merely a week and a half, with a broken arm ! As for the costumes, for Camille it was pretty straightforward – a white blouse with added puffed sleeves, to achieve a good nineteenth century flair, and vintage nightclothes. For the sculptures, we had to make do with our restricted budget, and bought dance unitards that Manon, the costumer, dyed with brown clay ; and then the dancers had to be fully covered in clay each day of shooting.
HFF: How did you work the sound recordings? Did you do post synchronization?
AD: Sound recording on set was pretty minimalistic ; most of the film’s sound design was created during sound editing and mixing, with post-synchronization, foleys and sound effects that we either found in audio libraries or recorded ourselves in the studio. The sound design of the sculptures is mostly river rocks, sand, gravel and dust with only a tad of a water.
HFF: How long did the filming and editing take? Was the post-production work important?
AD: We shot the film in five days, and edited it in three weeks. I graduated as a film editor, it’s always my favourite part of the filmmaking process ; for this film it was emotionally tough, but really delightful. It was my first time working with friend Emile Marzbani, and I hope it’s only the beginning of a long-lasting collaboration ! But as developed in the previous question, the importance of sound postproduction must not be overlooked – I felt like the film was truly born there.
HFF: Has your short film ever been screened at a festival?
AD: Yes ! Camille à corps perdu was selected at Avignon International Film Festival, where it received an Honorable mention in the Best Experimental Short category ; and at Bleu Paris Festival, where we were honored to received the Jury Prize.
HFF: How do you see the future of your film?
AD: My producer Charlotte and I plan to submit the film to as many festivals as we can for the remainder of 2024. Then, we will release the film on the internet, hopefully through platforms such as Numeridanse, and organize screenings occasionally, probably around Lyon, Tours and Paris where we now live.
HFF: Do you have another project to come? Maybe in the same genre?
AD: Yes ! I am currently working on two short films, Insubmersible and Carna
