The Betancourt case on Netflix: the famous scandal told like a series!

“This scandal has no parallel in recent French history.In a few words, Fabrice Arfi, a Médiapart journalist, summarizes the significance of the Betancourt case, its impact on the media and society. So it makes sense that Netflix would dedicate a three-episode docu-series to his comeback. A detail about this tornado that hit the country in 2007.

Produced by Baptiste Echegarai and Maxime Bonnet, this work initially focuses on the complex figure of Liliane Bettencourt – at the helm of a fortune of more than 30 billion euros. The series briefly traces her family legacy and life as a wife to Andre Bettencourt, before falling into scandal.

The documentary relies on archival footage as well as a number of key testimonies, from the wealth manager – who plays a key role here – to numerous journalists, including socialites such as… Arielle Domsbale.

Policy, Registration and Rights

This series beautifully unravels the many layers of the Bettencourt case: revelations of tax fraud – money placed in no less than 12 offshore accounts; eavesdropping; illegal financing of Nicolas Sarkozy’s presidential campaign; but also the friendship between Lillian Bettencourt and François-Marie Banier.

The latter, a photographer, is depicted as a capricious and contradictory person who received no less than 917 million euros from the heir from 1997 to 2007. This story of control turns into a family feud when Lillian Bettencourt’s daughter, Françoise Bettencourt, finds out about these deals.

This scandal is treated in this documentary as a series of suspense thanks to the use of fiction codes such as cliffhanger – an ending that makes you want to see what happens next – and some evil.

Yet society always comes back to reality when they realize the astronomical sums – the milk carton metaphor has little effect. We hope the series never forgets to remind us to appreciate the seriousness of facts.

The Bettencourt Affair: A Scandal Among the World’s Richest Women is available on Netflix.