England raced into a 4-0 half-time lead courtesy of goals from Declan Rice, Ezri Konsa and a Saka brace, only for France to storm back through Kylian Mbappe's double and a Bradley Barcola strike to close the gap to 4-3. Saka restored England's two-goal cushion from the penalty spot in the 87th minute to complete his hat-trick, before Ousmane Dembele pulled another back for France.
Bellingham had the final word, scoring in the eighth minute of second-half stoppage time to make it 6-4 and give England their best World Cup finish since they won the tournament in 1966. It was the highest-scoring World Cup match since 1982 and the most goals ever seen in a third-place play-off.
England manager Thomas Tuchel praised his players for withstanding a France fightback in gruelling conditions, having had less recovery time than their opponents following the semi-finals.
"We had a brilliant first half and then a turbulent second half," Tuchel told BBC Sport. "You could see the difference of what one day makes and the difference in the schedule. We are so, so tired and drained from the last weeks. So a massive compliment and full respect - the mentality that we showed. Going through all the adversity is absolutely brilliant.
"I was afraid of the physical demands of the match. We know the quality and speed of France, and they have much less schedule for them. It was less demanding. They had one more day in-between the semi-final to digest, and they had way less travel distances than us. We played in the heat, at altitude. I was worried physically. You could see it in the second half, the cramps and all the tiredness, but I was never worried about the mentality. I have said it before, this team has created something very special, and they showed it again."
Asked about the changes made after the second-half hydration break, Tuchel said: "Not sure if we had more control. We just had fresher legs and quality players again. The others were tired. France played in their full flow and full risk, so we got unlucky to not concede the equaliser and finish it off with a penalty and a brilliant goal."
On Saka's hat-trick, Tuchel added: "He did everything right. I had a feeling in the semi-final for Rogers. That he would be involved in something special. That was it. The games in itself demands so much, so much focus on changes because of cramps and flow of the games. Bukayo showed that he is a key player. There is never a doubt. I wasn't aware he had a hat-trick. I lost the overview of the goalscorers, but brilliant."
Tuchel also reflected on England's progress towards closing the gap with the world's leading nations.
"You could see I think everything. We have the ability to close it, but they have the ability to open it up again. Eight years ago they [France] were the champions. Four years ago they were in the final. There is a slight gap, but no problem. We want to close it. I said yesterday today is the first step to closing it. We did it. We beat them. The next one will be Spain in the Nations League.
"To see a team fight like this gives you energy. The tiredness will come after. We will still feel the pain when tomorrow is the final. This will take a while, but overall it gives me more energy than it takes from me."
Mbappe's brace took him to 22 career World Cup goals, one more than Lionel Messi's all-time record, and finished the tournament with 10 goals to claim the Golden Boot ahead of the Argentinian.