François-Marie Banier

François-Marie Banier (born 27 June 1947) is a French novelist, playwright, artist, actor and photographer. His published works include Le Passé Composé and Balthazar, Fils de Famille (1985).

Banier is particularly known for his photographs of celebrities and other public figures and for his friendships with members of high society. In a prominent legal case, in 2016, he was convicted of 'abuse of weakness' of the elderly billionaire Liliane Bettencourt.

Early life Banier was born on June 27, 1947, in Paris, France. A second son, he grew up in a middle-class family in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. Although Banier was brought up as a Catholic, his Hungarian-born father (actual name: Banyaï) concealed the fact that he had converted from Judaism under the Nazi regime. His father was an advertising executive, who beat him for disobeying “idiotic rules” and this led him to attempt suicide at the age of 15. At the age of 19, he befriended the wealthy heiress and patron of the arts Marie-Laure de Noailles who was then 64.

Career At the age of 19, Banier was given the responsibility of managing press relations for fashion designer Pierre Cardin's two boutiques on the Left Bank of Paris. While working for Cardin, he began taking photographs, and among his earliest subjects was novelist Truman Capote. Around the same time, a well-known Parisian designer and antique dealer Madeleine Castaing collected some of his photographs.

In 1971, Banier published his second novel, Le Passé Composé. She then offered to financially support him, but he declined. He dated actor Pascal Greggory, and they lived together for seven years. Banier lives with his partner, Greggory's nephew, Martin d’Orgeval, in Paris.

Over the years, Banier befriended many well-known public figures and celebrities, including Salvador Dalí, Yves Saint Laurent, Françoise Sagan, Samuel Beckett, Vladimir Horowitz, Louis Aragon, François Mitterrand, Kate Moss, Mick Jagger, and Princess Caroline of Monaco.

Banier is a friend of Johnny Depp and his former partner Vanessa Paradis, whom he met at his home in the south of France. Banier is godfather to their daughter, Lily-Rose Depp.

Banier is also a close friend of Lord Cholmondeley and is the godfather of his twins, Alexander Hugh George and Oliver Timothy George. Over the ensuing years, Banier and Bettencourt became friends and she became his chief benefactor, bestowing gifts upon him estimated to be worth as much as €1.3 billion. These gifts included a life insurance policy worth €253 million in 2003, another life insurance policy worth €262 million in 2006, 11 works of art in 2001 valued at €20 million, including paintings by Picasso, Matisse, Mondrian, Delaunay and Léger and a photograph by surrealist Man Ray As a result of her complaint, the Brigade Financière, the financial investigative arm of the French national police, opened an investigation and, after interviewing members of Bettencourt's staff, determined to present the case to a court in Nanterre for trial in September 2009. However, Bettencourt refused to submit to these examinations.

In July 2010, the trial was adjourned again until autumn 2010, at the earliest, after details of tape recordings made by Bettencourt's butler became public. The tapes allegedly reveal that Bettencourt had made Banier her "sole heir" (excluding the L'Oréal shares which made up the bulk of her estate and which had already been signed over to her daughter and two grandsons). Bettencourt later removed Banier from her will.

In 2015 Banier was convicted of 'abuse of weakness' of Liliane Bettencourt, prosecutor Gérard Aldigé stating he had "imposed his control over her like a spider spinning its web. And once he had her in his net, he never let her go. She became his thing. He dealt with her like a vampire." Banier was sentenced to two and a half years prison, and ordered to pay €158 million in damages to Liliane Bettencourt. Seven other defendants, including Liliane Bettencourt's financial advisor, lawyer, and notary, were also convicted and given lesser sentences.

Banier appealed. The second trial, which concluded in May 2016, upheld the conviction, but reduced his sentence to four years suspended and a €375,000 fine, cancelling the other damages.

In popular culture The 2025 movie The Richest Woman in the World, loosely based on Liliane Bettencourt, features a character based on Banier.

Selected works Novels Les Résidences Secondaires, Grasset, 1969 Le Passé composé, Grasset, 1971 La Tête la première, Grasset, 1972 Balthazar, fils de famille, Gallimard, 1985, Grand prix des lectrices de Elle Sur un air de fête, Gallimard, 1990 Les Femmes du métro Pompe, Gallimard, 2006 Johnny Dasolo, Gallimard, 2008

Plays Hôtel du lac, Gallimard, 1975 Nous ne connaissons pas la même personne, Grasset, 1978 Je ne t'ai jamais aimé, Gallimard, 2000

Art books On N'est Jamais Tranquile, Steidl, 2010

Photography books Photographies, Gallimard/Denoël, 1991 Past-Present, William Morrow, New York, 1996; Schirmer/Mosel, Munich 1997 Vivre, São Paulo, Pinacoteca do Estado; Rio de Janeiro, Museum de Arte Moderna, 1999 François-Marie Banier, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Asahi Schimbun, 2000 Brésil, Gallimard, 2001 François-Marie Banier, Miami Beach, Bass Museum of Art; Gallimard, 2003 Le Chanteur muet des rues, en collaboration avec Erri de Luca, éd. Martin d'Orgeval, Gallimard, 2006 Perdre la tête, Die schönsten deutschen Bücher (Prix du meilleur livre allemand, section photographie), 2006; Silver Crown Award, Moscou, 2007 Vive la vie, with photographs of Natalia Vodianova. Steidl, Göttingen, Germany, 2008. . Beckett, Steidl, 2009

Exhibitions 1991 : Musée national d'Art moderne, Centre Georges-Pompidou, Paris 1994 : Bunkamera Gallery, Tokyo; galerie Beatrice Wassermann, Munich 1997 : Villa Farnèse, Rome 1998 : Private Heroes, Württembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart 2000 : Fotos y Pinturas, musée national des Beaux Arts d'Argentine, Buenos Aires 2001 : Täglich Neues, musée Ludwig; Coblence; Budapest 2003 : Maison européenne de la photographie, Paris 2003 : Transphotographiques, Lille, Crypte de la Cathédrale de la Treille 2005 : Perdre la tête, Académie de France à Rome, Villa Medici 2006 : True Stories, Istanbul Modern, Istanbul 2007 : Perdre la tête, Manège de Moscou 2007 : Galerie Gagosian, Los Angeles 2007 : Written Photos, Villa Oppenheim, Berlin 2007 : Transphotographiques, Lille, Eglise St Maurice 2009 : Beckett, Maison de la Photographie, Lille

Filmography Chassé-croisé, film by Arielle Dombasle, 1982 L'Argent, film by Robert Bresson, 1983 La Nuit porte-jarretelles, film by Virginie Thévenet, 1985 4 aventures de Reinette et Mirabelle, film by Éric Rohmer, 1987 L'Arbre, le maire et la médiathèque, film by Éric Rohmer, 1993 L'Anglaise et le Duc, film by Éric Rohmer, 2001 L'Heure d'été, film by Olivier Assayas, 2008