Laurent Lafitte, Sandrine Kiberlain, Amira Casar

Source: Jo Saget / Pascal Ito / Philippe Quaisse / Unifrance

[Clockwise from top left] Laurent Lafitte, Sandrine Kiberlain, Amira Casar

Memento International is launching sales of Guillaume Nicloux’s The Divine Sarah Bernhardt starring Sandrine Kiberlain as the titular French stage actresss at Unifrance’s upcoming Rendez-Vous with French Cinema in Paris (January 16-23). 

The film is now shooting in France. Produced by Les Films du Kiosque with Bac Films, the romantic biopic will portray the artist and actress renowned for her audacious personality and stage performances. It is based on a script by Nathalie Leuthreau.

TF1 Films Production and Belgium’s Umedia are also co-producing. Bac Films will release in France. 

Kiberlain, known for Diary Of A Fleeting Affair, November and Another World, stars alongside The Count Of Monte-Cristo and Little White Lies’ Laurent Lafitte and Amira Casar of Call Me By Your Name and series A Small Light.

Nicloux describes The Divine Sarah Bernhardt as “the story of a woman who lived multiple lives, where love and theater mattered more than anything” and added: “Sarah’s personality, her artistic genius, her love affairs, and the events that marked her life, were rich and consistently extraordinary. She was not only an immensely tragic actress with rare magnetism, but also a woman ahead of her time. Free and determined, she boldly expressed her political and feminist views, often against the majority’s opinion.”

Nicloux is fresh off of two recent 2023 releases, Lockdown Tower in August and September’s The Baby which grossed more than $3.5m in France. 

Memento International called Bernhardt “a charismatic pioneer, acclaimed and admired by the likes of Victor Hugo, Mark Twain, and Oscar Wilde.”

The company’s Rendez-Vous slate also includes Camille Perton’s thriller Arenas starring Edgar Ramirez,  TIFF Platform and multiple prize-winning Sisterhood, Venice competitor Woman Of… and TIFF Centerpiece title Holiday.