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'Rodin' struggles with depicting the life of an artist

( Unrated ) ( Monitor Movie Guide )

'Rodin,' which is directed by Jacques Doillon, stars Vincent Lindon as the great Parisian sculptor.

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Courtesy of Cohen Media Group
Vincent Lindon as Auguste Rodin in the film 'Rodin.'
  • By Peter Rainer Film critic

It is, of course, quite difficult to make a good movie about artists. The process of creating art, after all, is notoriously uncinematic, especially if we’re talking about writers. (Last week’s “Mary Shelley” is a case in point.) This hurdle doesn’t stop filmmakers from trying, and I suppose they should keep at it.

But “Rodin,” directed by Jacques Doillon and starring Vincent Lindon as the great Parisian sculptor, does not, to put it charitably, add to the very small roster of Great Artist movies (such as “Lust for Life” and “Vincent & Theo”). Neither, to take two recent examples, did “Renoir” (2012) or “Cezanne et Moi” (2016), but at least those films ventured into the great outdoors and attempted to mimic the painters’ palettes. “Rodin,” by contrast, is a cooped-up slog. Grade: C (This movie is not rated.)

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