The Richest Woman in the World

Isabelle Huppert plays cosmetics CEO Marianne in this teasingly ambivalent satire inspired by the Bettancourt Affair, when L’Oreal heir Francoise Bettancourt scandalized France by frittering away her fortune on her “friend”, photographer and writer Francois-Marie Banier (godfather to Lily Rose Depp, trivia fans). Here, Pierre-Alain Fantin (Laurent Lafitte) is also a photographer to the stars, homosexual, a self-appointed arbiter of taste but also a man who uses tastelessness to shock and titillate high society. Marianne — comfortably numb in her marriage — is entranced and besotted by this flamboyant flatterer and soon he’s redecorating her mansion, always at her side…

It’s hard not to think of Succession as Marianne’s heirs become increasingly alarmed by the usurper. What’s most interesting is how Huppert refuses to play the victim. And while we may not warm to the manipulative Pierre-Alain, this agent of chaos is also something of a truth-teller, which makes their intimacy something of a pact, mysterious, selfish, but not inauthentic.

Its glossy surface might evoke the world of tabloids and family dynasties, but the chemistry between Isabelle Huppert and Laurent Lafitte gives it staying power. The script is witty and often biting, the pacing crisp, and the supporting cast rises to the occasion.

Ali Benzraki, Next Best Picture

Sharp and gleeful… the viewer cannot help but take a perverse pleasure in seeing the misfortunes of the rich and famous.

Manon Dumais, La Presse

Huppert is majesterial…

4 stars Francois Levesque, Le Devoir