I am a hiker. It was while criss-crossing Belle-Île-en-mer, for the first time 15 years ago, that I discovered the story of what was called "the divine", as well as her colorful character. Sarah Bernhardt spent all her summers on this island of Brittany for almost thirty years. She settled at Pointe des Poulains, one of the wildest places, in an old fort that has now become the Sarah Bernhardt museum. So it was there, traveling around the island, that I met this tragedian who made the French language known on five continents. A courageous woman with many talents. This year 2023 is the centenary of his disappearance. I couldn't pass up this opportunity to celebrate her!

It is first of all a woman who positions herself in a century of man. She seduced the entire intelligentsia of the time. Because she is unique. It is she who brings out Edmond Rostand. It is also thanks to her that Alphonse Mucha produced his first theatrical posters. Nothing is planned at the start for her to be an actress. And yet it is this destiny that she is building for herself. What also challenged me is that when I had the feeling of understanding her, she escaped me. I first discovered the great tragic actress and then I learned that she is also a painter and sculptor, that she exhibits and sells her works. It is said that Rodin was jealous of her. And I finally discover that she is involved in politics, in particular against the death penalty and for women's right to vote. He is a personality who all his life has made his voice heard.

At the end of her life she plays The Aiglon “, the play by Edmond Rostand, in which she disguises herself to play a young man of 19 when she was fifty-one. Interpret the queen in " Ruy Blas "was another highlight of his career, especially abroad, then " Phaedra " and finally " La Dames aux camélias which was a hit. These pieces were popular successes, the press of the time only talked about them. She is known all over the world. And when she goes so far as to slam the door of the Comédie Française, it is to create her own troupe, then go abroad. He is given an extraordinary reception. How can she attract Londoners to the point of making eight hundred encores playing in French? We are always in the incredible with Sarah Bernhardt.

What touched me: it's a fight of a lifetime. She did not fit into the criteria of beauty at the time. She didn't have a father, and her mother, who was a demimonde, didn't love her. She was raised by Bretons, in the Breton language, until the age of six. Not knowing how to read or write, she was parachuted into boarding school. This is where she forged her motto: the famous " still ". She was then eight years old. It is said that his cousin incites him, by taunting her, to jump over a stream. She runs, but she falls and hurts herself. When her mother and her aunt Rosine tell her that she shouldn't have risked it, she will have this sentence: “not only do I regret nothing but if I had to do it again I would do it again anyway”. And this " still » will follow her all her life, in this journey as atypical as it is daring. Some claim she was hysterical. No, she was free. That's also what interested me: this freedom in this compartmentalized world.

Today we would say of her that she is a beauty. But at the time that was not the case. Sarah has frizzy hair, she was even called the blonde nigger. She is five feet tall and skinny as a cuckoo clock. Her mother tells her she is ugly. When she entered the competition for the Conservatory of Dramatic Art, she had little self-confidence. It is the Duc de Morny, a friend of her mother, who will present her to the jury and then arranges for her to be taken. At the end of the deliberations, when she learns that she is received, he would have said something like: " it's up to you now Sarah, the road ahead is difficult, you will have to work. The trigger is immediate. The young woman begins to read and continues to learn from that moment on. She acquires a phenomenal memory.

She had a chaotic life. From a very young age, Sarah Bernhardt has been built on chaos. She didn't know her father, her husband is going to cheat on her… She is a courageous woman with a strong character who never complained despite the blows of fate. Full of emotions, but never revealing itself. In public she always appears happy, empathetic, attentive… This is also the reason why she will play a lot of male roles. At the time the roles of women are less in the expression of emotions. So it's the male characters she plays on stage that will allow her to release her tears and express the pain of a lifetime. She will find her balance that way. All her life she will also seek to tame death. She had set up a coffin in her home in which she slept... Her anchor is her family, her only son Maurice, her two granddaughters, her animals - she had all kinds - and of course also her fort at Belle-Ile-en-Mer, a wild island that suited his fiery soul perfectly. Sarah was a pioneer in the emergence of a new woman, a non-submissive woman.

I first looked for the places she liked. Paris and Belle-Ile-en-Mer have won. After a week of festivities in Paris, the program will continue from April 30 to May 8 on the Breton island with an exhibition, conferences, a commented walk in his footsteps, concerts, workshops, a ball. The Bellilois showed unparalleled enthusiasm. The Hôtel du Cardinal, the Tourist Office, the eco-responsible catamaran company "Iliens", etc., are with us.

I did not know of the existence of his monumental tantrums. Sarah could set everything on fire and blood. Today he might be diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome… I also discovered that the whole world was at his feet. So when she goes on tour in Brazil, it is the Emperor of Chile who comes to meet her! In London, the students unhitch the horses to bring her back on the backs of men to her home.

This program "Sarah in all her states" aims to arouse interest in the great tragedian that she was, especially among young audiences. Sarah Bernhardt was very open to young writers of the time, whom she sometimes received until two o'clock in the morning. Did you know that on December 9, 1896, 500 people organized a party for her in Paris because she still had not received the Legion of Honor? On this occasion seven writers of the time will offer him a sonnet. It happens that more than a hundred years later, it is still the subject of new publications. Sarah Bernhardt is alive and well. And it will be even more so after this centenary!

Find the programming of Sarah in all its states between Paris and Belle-Ile-en-Mer