If there is ever a list of the most commanding actresses put together that encompasses the stars of the post Golden age of Hollywood, Glenda Jackson should be in the top ten. Like Bette Davis of the golden age, when she is on screen, it is her you are looking at, no matter how great the other actors are around her. It is very appropriate that in the mid 1970's, she should play the greatest stage actress of the last half of the 1800's, Sarah Bernhardt. Even in the scenes where Bernhardt is younger, Jackson seems far too commanding and possibly too mature, Jackson deservedly gets all the attention. Jackson makes it clear that in those early scenes, she might actually be Bernhardt looking back on her own life, seeing herself as she is at the very end, rather than the young hopeful that she is in those sequences with the drive but not the tools to succeed in her desired craft. The early scenes are quite funny with Jackson dealing with an imperious star (Margaret Courtenay) in the "Comedie Francais" even while playing the small role of the maid. Another onstage appearance as a maid has her making a shambles of the set, and even though she is making a fool out of herself and a fiasco out of the production, it is obvious that there is a star in the making.
The story covers the key years of Bernhardt's life, from her involvement with a Belgian prince, her decision to raise their illegitimate daughter alone, and then her rise to stardom. The audiences love her, but the theater owner isn't so easily impressed, promising to pay her in gold only when she makes it clear to him that she is indeed a true star. That happens during a production of "Phaedra", and from there, snippets indicates that she is already bored with stardom, bored with life, and bored even with men. Jackson has the most hysterical of tirades, destroying her lavish suite of rooms and scaring the various exotic animals she has made pets of, including various birds, a baby chimp and a roaring lion who seems to know that she could out roar it any day. A relationship with a younger man is challenged by his inability to act (and his constantly being referred to as "Mr. Bernhardt") and his constant infidelities, but then the way she snagged him from acting rival Yvonne Mitchell wasn't exactly noble, either.
There are several great scenes of Bernhardt on stage, including one sequence where she appears as one of the daughters in "King Lear" (ironic considering that after her return to the New York stage in Edward Albee's "Three Tall Women", Jackson announced she would later come back to play Lear himself!), as well as the final triumphant scene of her in "Saint Joan" that starts with the angry audience heckling her then suddenly finding themselves transfixed by her talents. This isn't quite a story as much as it is snippets from her life, but Jackson is excellent and the production values are simply superb. Fans of the 1976 BBC mini-series "I Claudius" will recognize several actors, including John Castle and an unbilled Graham Seed as the boy king in the "Saint Joan" finale.
The story covers the key years of Bernhardt's life, from her involvement with a Belgian prince, her decision to raise their illegitimate daughter alone, and then her rise to stardom. The audiences love her, but the theater owner isn't so easily impressed, promising to pay her in gold only when she makes it clear to him that she is indeed a true star. That happens during a production of "Phaedra", and from there, snippets indicates that she is already bored with stardom, bored with life, and bored even with men. Jackson has the most hysterical of tirades, destroying her lavish suite of rooms and scaring the various exotic animals she has made pets of, including various birds, a baby chimp and a roaring lion who seems to know that she could out roar it any day. A relationship with a younger man is challenged by his inability to act (and his constantly being referred to as "Mr. Bernhardt") and his constant infidelities, but then the way she snagged him from acting rival Yvonne Mitchell wasn't exactly noble, either.
There are several great scenes of Bernhardt on stage, including one sequence where she appears as one of the daughters in "King Lear" (ironic considering that after her return to the New York stage in Edward Albee's "Three Tall Women", Jackson announced she would later come back to play Lear himself!), as well as the final triumphant scene of her in "Saint Joan" that starts with the angry audience heckling her then suddenly finding themselves transfixed by her talents. This isn't quite a story as much as it is snippets from her life, but Jackson is excellent and the production values are simply superb. Fans of the 1976 BBC mini-series "I Claudius" will recognize several actors, including John Castle and an unbilled Graham Seed as the boy king in the "Saint Joan" finale.