M, 123 minutes
4 Stars
Review by © Jane Freebury
After inviting a flamboyant swindler to join her and the family at their luxury lakeside mansion, the heiress at the centre of this racy, bawdy French comedy leans towards him to explain why he’s there. Everyone but her is offended by his behaviour, but she had just wanted to see just how far the daring promise he offered could go. As the richest woman in the world, she could do and say what she wanted. Whatever happened, she would be up for any outcomes.
Life at the top had been lonely for uber-rich Marianne Farrere (Isabelle Huppert), until celebrity photographer and enfant terrible Pierre-Alain Fantin (Laurent Lafitte) came along. All those sycophants were so boring, but him, and his refusal to demur or kowtow was intoxicating. His utterly irreverent attitude gave her, although 25 years his senior, a new zest for life. She knows his reputation as a crook, imposter and thief, but she just won’t hear ill of him.
The rudeness began the moment they met. Marianne grants an interview and photoshoot for a prestige magazine, already aware of photographer Pierre-Alain’s appalling reputation, but she follows through on the makeover he wants for her, and soon agrees to his suggestions for redecorating the family mansion. It had all been in suffocating good taste.
He patronises Marianne’s timid, self-effacing daughter Frederique (Marina Fois good in a thankless role), the heiress’s only child and heir, outrageously. And he insults everyone in the family, even the butler. Scenes with Jerome (Raphael Personnaz) will make some filmgoers squirm. It seems the unflappable butler has an endless capacity to brush it off, however. Until his big reveal.
A way out of suffocating good taste
The screenplay cowritten by Klifa with Cedric Anger and Jacques Fieschi is calculated to provoke a strong response from audiences. In certain respects, the sharp dark humour is a general invitation for us all to laugh at ourselves, though the social critique could have been sharper.
As uber-rich cosmetics empire heiress, Marianne Farrere, the indomitable Isabelle Huppert is certainly up for some controversy too. So, what’s new? Once again, the veteran actress has played a complicated woman who is not that easy to like, even a provocation.
Her performance is not the only one that stands out in this Thierry Klifa film. The sly society photographer and aspiring celebrity writer, Pierre-Alain, is brought to life with tremendous gusto and conviction by Lafitte. And Personnaz’s interpretation of the butler, a model of discretion and loyalty if ever there was one, is still a strong presence as he hovers in the background. The three characters have the best lines.
The butler, the society photographer, and the heiress own the best lines
Many roles in Huppert’s filmography have been regular characters, but there are some like this wayward heiress for which she has taken on an additional challenge, embracing the moral complexity with brio. Perhaps you remember the confident, successful woman who is raped in Elle, or the music teacher who has an affair with a student in The Piano Teacher, or White Material in which Huppert plays the owner of a plantation in post-colonial Africa. This actress excels with characters with twisty moral positions.
It’s no secret that this comedy from Thierry Klifa is a thinly disguised take on a recent French scandal connected with Liliane Bettencourt, the heiress to the L’Oreal business empire who was indeed one of the richest women in the world. Her daughter has now assumed her position in the company, but prior to this there was an ugly legal when her father died. The daughter took her mother’s writer-photographer close friend to court for elder abuse. He had reportedly connived for Liliane to hand over her fortune to him, while in her dotage. The family feud was a huge scandal with some ramifications among France’s political elite.
Despite the background reality, the film doesn’t benefit from the faux doco-style interviews to camera with some key characters like Jerome, Frederique and Pierre-Alain throwing light on the scandal. They are superfluous and interrupt the flow.
How many divas at the head of cosmetics and fashion empires can we meet in a few weeks? In retrospect, the devil who wears Prada seems a model of restraint and good taste, compared to this heiress. Both are passionate about their business, that’s clear. Confirmation that it takes at least a little talent to be successfully uber-rich.
Published in the Canberra Times (23 May 2026), various other Australian Community Media outlets, and on Rotten Tomatoes