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 being produced by Mathias Rubin’s Recifilms and co-produced by Belgium’s Versus Productions. Haut Et Court has French rights, while Netflix is co-financing and have first and second broadcast window rights. Further backers include Soficas Sofitvciné 12, Cinémage 19, Cinéaxe 6 and Cofimage 36.
Klifa’s sixth feature also stars Laurent Lafitte, Marina Fois, and Raphael Personnaz. The script is by Klifa with Cedric Anger.
The real-life scandal, which extended for a decade, is the subject of a Netflix three-part docuseries The Billionaire, The Butler And The Boyfriend .
Huppert is jury president of the international compeition at the Venice Film Festival, which opens on August 28.
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