French movie star Isabelle Huppert has started shooting the role of billionaire Lillian Bettencourt in a feature film about the heiress of the cosmetic giant “L'Oreal“, entitled “The richest woman in the world“ (La Femme la Plus Riche du Monde), reported “Screen Daily“, quoted by BTA.
The film, directed by Thierry Cliffe, is inspired by Bettencourt, who at the age of 89 caused a social, financial and political scandal by giving hundreds of millions of euros to a young photographer. This causes her daughter to launch an investigation revealing allegations of political corruption reaching former French President Nicolas Sarkozy. The scandal was the focus of the French and world media when it erupted in the summer of 2010. As a result, Liliane Bettencourt - with a fortune estimated at 16 billion euros at the time - was placed under the guardianship of her daughter and grandchildren. This deprives what is considered one of the richest women in the world from the seat on the management board of ““L'Oreal““ and from the chairmanship of the holding, which controls the family shares in the group of the global giant in the production of cosmetic products. Lillian Bettencourt died in Paris in 2017 at the age of 94.
The film is produced by the company “Recifilms” (Recifilms) of Matthias Rubin and co-produced by the Belgian “Versus Productions“ (Versus Productions). “Netflix“ is a co-funder and has the first and second broadcast rights. On “Netflix” A three-part documentary dedicated to the scandal was shown in 2010, entitled The Billionaire, the Butler & the Boyfriend (“The billionaire, the butler and the boyfriend“).
Clifa's sixth feature film also stars Laurent Lafitte, Marina Foix and Raphael Personas.
Isabelle Huppert is the president of the jury of the international competition program of the Venice Film Festival, which opens on August 28.