Isabelle Huppert has started filming in France as a fictionalised version of billionaire Liliane Bettencourt, the heir to the L’Oreal fortune, on La Femme la Plus Riche du Monde (literally, The Richest Woman In The World) which Playtime has boarded for sales.
Directed by Thierry Klifa, the film is loosely inspired by nonagenarian Bettencourt, who became the subject of a social, financial and political scandal when she gave hundreds of millions of Euros to a young artist which led her daughter to launch an investigation that uncovered political corruption allegations extending to former French president Nicolas Sarkozy. The film is produced by Mathias Rubin’s Recifilms, and co-produced with Versus Productions in Belgium. Haut Et Court holds the French rights while Netflix co-finances and has first and second broadcast window. Other backers include Soficas Sofitvcine 12 and Cinemage 19. Cineaxe 6 as well as Cofimage 36.
Klifa’s sixth feature stars Laurent Lafitte and Marina Fois. Raphael Personnaz also appears. The real-life scandal that lasted for a decade is the subject of three-part Netflix docuseries,
The Billionaire The Butler And The Boyfriend
. Huppert will be the president of the Venice Fil Festival’s international competition, which begins on August 28.
