A preserved print of this film survives in the UCLA Film and Television Archives.
Sappho was released in Germany on 6 September 1921. The film was barred from release in New York by the State Board of Censors in 1922. A censored version of the film entitled Mad Love was finally released by Metro on 4 March 1923. As Mad Love, The New York Times described the story itself as a stereotyped French Victorian one, but praised Pola Negri's performance by making both her role fully believable and therefore bringing the story line to life, saying of Negri, "She convinces you again that she is the particular person she is playing and no one else.