In full promotion of the film Sarah Bernhardt, La Divine, the actress was a guest on the show Daily on TMC, December 17. She shared her vision of the profession there.
How do we feel when we have to interpret the woman for whom Jean Cocteau coined the term “sacred monster”? “Intimidated,” admits Sandrine Kiberlain. The 56-year-old actress plays Sarah Bernhardt, the first beloved actress in history, in the film Sarah Bernhardt, La Divinein theaters December 18. To promote it, she was invited on the set of the show Daily broadcast on the channel TMC on December 17. The opportunity to find out a little more about Sandrine Kiberlain’s relationship to her profession as an actress.
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“Let the horses go”
Given the career and the power of the character she plays on screen, the presenter of the show, Yann Barthès, questions her: “were you intimidated?” “There’s something!” retorts the actress. She [Sarah Bernhardt] had inordinate talent, people fainted when she played.”
After the intimidation, Sandrine Kiberlain also felt a strong inspiration: “She was a woman who followed her convictions and her desires to the end. I play a woman who lets go of the horses, so I let go of the horses.” And the actress continues: “When you play a woman of stature like her, you want to be free, to be less afraid.” A strength of character which also showed on her during the filming: “I felt myself increase in volume, in freedom, in energy, even in distribution.”
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“In all my characters, I try to abandon myself”
If Sandrine Kiberlain is so immersed in Sarah Bernhardt, it is also because by preparing a role, she tries to “get into someone’s personality”. “In all my characters, I try to abandon myself,” she explains. “We leave what we are, we are inhabited by someone, this happens for me in a very unconscious way with an imagination that abounds, we have another voice, another approach…”
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A central element in Sarah Bernhardt’s game, however, did not inspire her much. “She really liked playing agonies, she had a lot of fun with everything, even death,” indicates Sandrine Kiberlain, less comfortable with playing the end of life. “I don’t like dying in films and stories,” she says. “I have the impression that we don’t inspire directors by chance. If a director imagines me dead, I say to myself shit! I don’t want to know what he senses.” An irrational fear that she doesn’t hesitate to laugh about today.
