Camille Claudel, Traits of an Artist

Impulsiveness

The sexual relationship between Auguste Rodin and Camille Claudel began impulsively in the scene where Camille visits Rodin's private studio. One notable scene set shortly after Camille’s “break-up” with Rodin. Rodin’s model is dismissed and Claudel herself adopts the artistic pose the model could not achieve. The film portrays a woman who is unable to separate her work ego and her emotions. This passion for art as well as for Rodin is shown in several scenes in the movie. Set on the afternoon of Victor Hugo's funeral, it moves their relationship impulsively to a more sexual plane. Camille, is shown passionately working with a huge mound of clay, pulling and tearing at it, embracing it and smearing herself with it, breathing heavily, and ends up covered with brown streaks of clay. The movie almost makes it appear as if Rodin causes Camille to "go mad.

Self-Absorbtion

The film portrays Rodin as a supreme egotist and tormentor in his self-absorption and Camille as a victim of her own obsessiveness into her work and her emotions. It is while in that pose that Rodin, spontaneously kisses Camille’s exposed shoulders and the nape of her neck. " We see Camille as a beautiful, impetuous, and obsessively talented young woman and an equal to Rodin, who lived her life according to her own principles, but was not strong enough to withstand the pressures of life. This one scene alone demonstrates the overwhelming passion Camille Claudel feels for both her art and Auguste Rodin and how the two are so closely related in her mind. Their relationship continues to be based on passion and reckless abandon closely tied into their art.