Stardom and historical thinking in Isabelle Adjanis French heritage film Camille Claudel

Stardom plays an important role in heritage film, a contemporary genre of costume drama and historical film. Stars on-screen and off-screen presences, their star personas and worldviews, powerfully impact heritage films historical reconstitutions, potentially influencing the spectators historical thinking and critical engagement with the past. A genre of popular and art-house/auteur cinema, heritage film provides a setting where renowned actors and actresses may assume a politics of stars, operating as star-auteurs who offer a meaningful contribution to films depictions of prior eras through their unique incarnation of historical figures. In the star-led phenomenon of heritage biopics, stars roles can be instrumental in impacting the viewers historical understanding. Iconic French Cinema star Isabelle Adjani has appeared in several crucial roles in heritage film, most notably her incarnation of Belle Époque artist and sculptress Claudel in the 1988 biopic Camille Claudel. In her adaptation of Reine-Marie Pariss original 1984 biography, Adjanis specific star presence forcefully influences the films portrait of Parisian art worlds, salons, galleries, artists studios, and workshops in turn-of-thecentury France. Through close analysis of Camille Claudel, this article examines the biopics reconstitution in relation to star Adjani role, testing notions of historical realism and authenticity in consultation with historical texts.