“The Bearded Woman”, this feisty French woman with extraordinary hair who became a phenomenon in the 19th century.

At the Cannes Film Festival this year, Un Certain Regard tells the story of Rosalie (played by Nadia Tereshkevich), a young woman unlike any other in France in 1870. Since birth, he has suffered from unusual hair on his face and body, which he constantly shaves. She is what is called a “bearded woman”. One day she meets Abel (Benoit Magimel), a debt-ridden café owner who ends up marrying her for her dowry. Although she is afraid of being perceived as a monster, Rosalie will end up making her difference in the eyes of everyone and her husband. This fate, as exceptional as it is, did not come from the imagination of director Stephanie DiGiusto. Rosalie really existed. Her real name is Clementine Delight.

Born in March 1865 in a peaceful village in the Vosges on the banks of the Moselle, Clementine Delay (née Clateau) became the most famous bearded woman of her time. “She’s already a strong baby, and she’ll be a very strong little girl,” reads a small school notebook containing her memories found at an Epinal flea market in 2005, as we learn in the French audio documentary. Culture. The chubby young girl is growing as fast as her body hair. “How did my beard grow? I do not know ; but I can assure you that at the age of 18, my upper lip was already adorned with a promising lower one, which pleasantly accentuated my face, which was pleasant…,” she admits in her equally intimate writings.

Johnny Depp hits the red carpet despite controversy in Cannes video

Bearded and liberated

It might have gotten complicated, but Clementine Delay decided one day (once married) to embrace her hairiness. Without a razor stroke, a long brown beard soon flows down his neck. Regardless, the strong woman from Thaon-les-Vosges has been wearing it proudly ever since. She turns her stigma into strength and decides to live her life as she sees fit. Immediately, the “bearded woman” becomes a phenomenon, a real attraction. So much so that he even made the cover! Little diaryequivalent Paris game Today. Due to its popularity, Vosgienne then opened two cafes, where people from all over the world flocked to admire it and get a postcard bearing its image. On these boxes we see him sometimes in costume, sometimes with his animals or in his garden. “I was afraid of the ridicule of my compatriots, on the contrary, they were crazy about me. My cafe was always full, the news spread like wildfire,” he says, according to the regional daily. Lorraine Republican in 2015.

Her husband, Paul Delait, is a baker. Her health is not good, so Clementine browses all kinds of fairs alongside one-legged women or stump women in order to gain financial independence. But above all, pay for the care of the spouse. “The money I earned allowed me to ease his suffering by showering him with small treats,” he wrote. That’s how I took him one day to see a nice pony for sale with his team. If I had this to go around. “Take it,” I tell him. “That’s yours.” The poor man could not believe it. He was crying with joy.”

Clementine DeLay, a feminist ahead of her time, liberates herself. He travels alone in France but also abroad. His passport also has the note “wears a beard”. This allows her to travel to England as a “bearded woman” without risk. Another unprecedented fact for the time, she wears pants, even though women are forbidden to “dress like men”. This transgression is possible thanks to the Minister’s decision.

Gender confusion

Throughout his life, Clementine DeLay never ceased to sow ambivalence. Is she a woman? A man ? Or both? Despite numerous medical examinations during which her body is examined from every angle (including the genitals), the “bearded woman of Vosges” likes to confuse the sexes. In his notebooks, which are always quoted by France Culture, he tells this anecdote: “I had a shirt that didn’t fit me very well. At the hotel, I change back into my women’s clothes and go to the Bazar de l’Hôtel de Ville, where I ask for a man’s shirt. Half an hour later I returned to the bazaar, but this time dressed as a man. I found my saleswoman who hurried. “- Would you like it, sir?” “- I would like a shirt, but be careful, look at my cleavage.” “Oh,” said he, “why didn’t you come sooner, sir? I had only one size that would fit you, and I gave it to a lady.” – Of course, it was not for a lady. And the little one laughed, explaining to me that the lady in question had a beautiful beard like mine, that she knew him well, and that she had his postcard portrait. That it was the bearded lady of Thaon. “Have you ever seen him, sir?” “I’ll go see him,” I said. I was having a great time, all the more so because the young lady was grinning, playing nice, and I would only have one word to say to end the trouble. When I left her, I shook her hand, she blushed. No doubt he expected better. He died in 1939 of a heart attack. His epitaph, “Here is Clementine Delight, the bearded woman.”

On video: Cannes 2023: Climbing the stairs on Tuesday 16 May