Nicolas Altmayer and Dior's Mathilde Favier Killed in France Crash
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- Nicolas Altmayer (61) and Mathilde Favier (57) died around 4 p.m. Monday on a departmental road in Airvault, Deux-Sèvres, when their vehicle hit a heavy goods vehicle traveling in the opposite direction while overtaking another car, according to the Niort prosecutor's office.
- Altmayer, who ran Mandarin & Compagnie with his brother Éric, produced the "OSS 117" franchise starring Jean Dujardin and worked repeatedly with auteurs François Ozon, Bertrand Bonello, and Julia Ducournau; the brothers received the César Academy's Daniel Toscan du Plantier Award in 2017.
- Favier had served as Dior Couture's director of public relations since 2011, after helping establish Prada's Paris press operation, and worked with ambassadors including Natalie Portman, Rihanna, Jennifer Lawrence, and Anya Taylor-Joy.
- Favier was the sister of Victoire de Castellane, creative director of Dior Joaillerie, founded the cancer-support nonprofit Esthétique & Cancer, and published the Paris guidebook "Mathilde à Paris" in 2024.
- LVMH chairman Bernard Arnault, Dior CEO Delphine Arnault, filmmakers Ozon and Franck Gastambide, Canal+ boss Maxime Saada, and CNC president Gaëtan Bruel all issued tributes; the couple were traveling from Cabourg to the Île de Ré, where Favier owned a home.
- Deputy prosecutor Nicolas Leclainche told AFP an investigation for involuntary manslaughter by a driver has been opened to determine the circumstances of the crash.
Why it matters: Two of French cinema and luxury fashion's most influential behind-the-scenes figures were killed in the same vehicle, instantly removing a producer who shaped two decades of auteur-driven French film and a publicist who managed the image of one of the world's largest couture houses. An involuntary manslaughter investigation is now underway into the overtaking collision.
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