Thierry Klifa’s latest film, presented Out of Competition at the last Cannes Film Festival and released in theaters on October 29, aims to make audiences laugh with a story heavily inspired by the Bettencourt affair. The result is divisive, even if the performances of the two main characters, played by Isabelle Huppert and Laurent Lafitte, are widely acclaimed.
The richest woman in the world, with her hand on the loot…
The title (and subtitle) of the latest film by director, journalist, and screenwriter Thierry Klifa (Les rois de la piste, Tout nous sépare, Une vie à t’attendre…), presented Out of Competition at the last Cannes Film Festival and released in theaters on Wednesday, October 29, sets the tone: this comedy, loosely based on the Bettencourt affair, is not subtle.
Comedy rather than tragedy
Rather than faithfully retelling a true story that has already been the subject of a Netflix documentary series (more soberly titled The Bettencourt Affair) released in 2023, this time the aim is to make people laugh… The film thus chooses to focus on comedy rather than tragedy, even though the latter is also present in this proven case of abuse of weakness. The victim was Liliane Bettencourt, heiress to L’Oréal, who was considered the richest woman in the world by Forbes for ten years and died at the age of 94 on September 21, 2017.
For even if the authors invoke “respect for privacy, the memory of the dead and the reputation of the living” and the fact that “their subjective view of the events reported is mixed with elements of pure fiction from their imagination,” everyone (except those who have lived in a cave for the last ten years) will have understood the film’s source of inspiration.
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Featured photo: © Manuel Moutier
