Trigger warning: This movie contains depictions self-harm and graphic medical procedure as well as mentions of sexual assault. Please take care when watching this movie.
This review contains minor spoilers.
The 2024 French biopic The Divine Sarah Bernhardt (‘Sarah Bernhardt, La Divine’) directed by Guillaume Nicloux, received mixed reviews, much like the larger than life French actress received herself in her lifetime.
If you are expecting a play by play biography of her highly theatrical life, this is not it.
As scriptwriter Nathalie Leuthreau explains it, “[Bernhardt had a] life so rich that I found it impossible to recount it in its entirety, at the risk of skimming over it and rendering only a pale copy. I have therefore chosen to focus on two key periods in her life.”
The first is her leg amputation in 1915, and the second is the day of her consecration almost 20 years earlier, and snippets in the lead up to Sarah Bernhardt Day.
Actress Sandrine Kiberlain’s portrayal of the world’s first celebrity was commendable. She captured her iconic flamboyance perfectly, balanced by a vulnerability about Bernhardt. We are given intimate insight into her free-spirit, her passion for her craft and her unapologetic lust for life. This is contrasted against glimpses of her traumatic childhood, propensity for self-harm as a coping mechanism and self-destructive temper.
We also see her tumultuous love affairs with artist Louise Abbéma (Amira Casar) and Lucien Guitry (Laurent Lafitte), and her countless interactions with great writers and artists such as Emile Zola, playwright Edmond Rostand, and of course, famously, Victor Hugo, who gifted her jewellery. Most important, though, is the legacy Bernhardt has left of challenging gender norms by maintaining her independence, having a child out of wedlock and a refusal to bow to societal pressure during a time when it was considered quite scandalous.
Set behind a backdrop of lavish furnishings, opulent colours and her menagerie of exotic animals, The Divine Sarah Bernhardt is essential viewing for lovers of strong historical females and French cinema. It left me with just the right amount of background information about her, tempered with the desire to find out more.
The Divine Sarah Bernhardt opens 17th July at Luna Palace Cinemas.