French Film Producer Nicolas Altmayer and Dior's Mathilde Favier Killed in Car Crash
French film producer Nicolas Altmayer and Dior public relations executive Mathilde Favier, a married couple, died on Monday, 17 August 2026 in a head-on collision in western France. Altmayer was 61. Favier was 57.
The crash occurred around 4 p.m. on a departmental road in Airvault, in the Deux-Sèvres region, according to the Niort prosecutor's office. Deputy prosecutor Nicolas Leclainche told AFP that the couple's vehicle struck a heavy goods vehicle travelling in the opposite direction while they were overtaking another vehicle. An investigation for involuntary manslaughter by a driver has been opened into the crash, Variety reported. Le Figaro reported that the couple had been travelling from Cabourg to the Île de Ré, where Favier owned a home.
Altmayer ran the Paris-based production company Mandarin & Compagnie with his brother Éric Altmayer. Over more than two decades, the brothers produced some of the most commercially successful French films of their era. Among them: Michel Hazanavicius's OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies and OSS 117: Lost in Rio, both starring Jean Dujardin, as well as Dujardin's breakout comedy Brice de Nice.
Altmayer also produced a long string of films by François Ozon, including Young & Beautiful, Frantz, By the Grace of God, Summer of 85 and Everything Went Fine. His credits extended to Bertrand Bonello's Saint Laurent, Julia Ducournau's Alpha, and Monsieur Aznavour, the Charles Aznavour biopic starring Tahar Rahim. In 2017, Nicolas and Éric Altmayer received the César Academy's Daniel Toscan du Plantier Award, which honours French producers.
The tributes came quickly. Ozon wrote on X: "Shock and sadness. Nicolas Altmayer was a great producer. A supporter and a friend." Filmmaker Fabien Onteniente, whose Jet Set and 3 Zéros were produced by the Altmayer brothers, told AFP: "A great producer has died." Actor Franck Gastambide, who worked with Altmayer on films and the series Validé, described the death as a "terrible shock" in comments to Le Figaro.
Favier joined Dior in 2011 and rose to director of public relations for Dior Couture, the house's haute-couture division. Before Dior, she worked at Prada, where she helped establish the Italian fashion house's Paris press operation. In her Dior role, she worked with high-profile ambassadors and celebrity guests including Natalie Portman, Rihanna, Jennifer Lawrence, Anya Taylor-Joy, Camille Cottin and Jisoo. She was the mother of two children and the sister of Dior Joaillerie creative director Victoire de Castellane.
In 2024, Favier published Mathilde à Paris, a personal guide to the French capital, written with journalist Frédérique Dedet. She also founded the association Esthétique & Cancer, which supports people undergoing cancer treatment through beauty and wellness programmes.
Bernard Arnault, chairman and CEO of Dior parent company LVMH, said Favier had dedicated many years of her life to putting her passion, energy and talent at the service of the house of Dior. Dior CEO Delphine Arnault called her "an exceptional woman whose infectious joy, talent and loyalty were exemplary."
Le Figaro described the couple as discreet figures emblematic of the global success of French cinema and fashion. French producer Elizabeth Kesses said of the two: "Their legacy in the world of Film and Couture but also as human beings is…"
