THE BILLIONAIRE, BUTLER AND BOYFRIEND: Netflix’s newly launched documentary on “the Bettencourt affair” has been met with giant viewership.
The three-part sequence titled “Affaire Bettencourt: scandale chez la femme la plus riche du monde,” or “The Billionaire, The Butler, and The Boyfriend,” traces the tenticular, multiyear saga involving the late L’Oréal heiress Liliane Bettencourt and the photographer-writer François-Marie Banier. It additionally featured members of the French authorities – as much as a former president.
The docuseries, directed by Baptiste Etchegaray and Maxime Bonnet, reportedly grew to become the highest considered documentary on Netflix in France a day after if went stay final week. It seems now on the “Common on Netflix” itemizing.
The Bettencourt affair started in December 2007, when Bettencourt’s daughter Françoise Bettencourt Meyers introduced a lawsuit towards Banier, alleging he had exploited the weak point of her mom, who had given him belongings valued at round 1 billion euros. Banier denied any wrongdoing, whereas Bettencourt, then the world’s wealthiest lady, maintained she was sound and appearing of her personal free will.
By summer time 2010, the Bettencourt affair had reached full boil. It spilled into the governmental area, when an allegation surfaced that then-labor minister Eric Woerth, whereas serving as France’s finances minister and UMP occasion treasurer in 2007, had obtained from the Bettencourts a marketing campaign donation nicely above the authorized restrict for presidential candidate Nicolas Sarkozy.
The French media was whipped right into a lather by successive revelations – not least that Bettencourt’s former butler had secretly taped her conversations with advisers. These had been leaked to the press.
On Dec. 6, 2010, Bettencourt Meyers deserted all of the authorized proceedings she had initiated. Bettencourt Meyers and her mom issued a joint assertion saying they’d reconciled to finish the conflicts that disrupted their household life and had reached a typical accord. Nonetheless, it didn’t cease French judges from persevering with to research felony allegations springing from the saga.
Bettencourt handed away in September 2017 on the age of 94.
In 2019, an inspecting Justice of the Peace in Paris dismissed fees introduced towards Bettencourt Meyers in 2016 by Banier. Allegations of false testimony associated to 5 of Bettencourt’s former staff and a good friend had been additionally dropped on the time. That formally closed the Bettencourt affair.