Volkswacht Bodensee - French producer Nicolas Altmayer, Dior PR chief Favier die in car crash

The couple's car collided with an oncoming truck while overtaking another vehicle on Monday afternoon, said Nicolas Leclainche, the deputy public prosecutor in Niort in the Deux-Sevres department.

Favier, 57, was head of public relations for luxury fashion brand Dior.

Altmayer, a 61-year-old film producer, headed the company Mandarin & Compagnie with his brother Eric.

The brothers produced the 1950s-style spy spoof "OSS 117" series and cult comedy "Brice de Nice", as well as a thriller based on former French president Nicolas Sarkozy's rise to power, "Conquest".

In 2017, Altmayer received, together with his brother, the Daniel Toscan du Plantier Prize for the best French producer of the year given by France's equivalent of the Academy Awards.

Tributes poured in for the couple from across entertainment, luxury and politics.

"Nicolas, Mathilde, you loved each other, we loved you. Immense sadness and shock. My thoughts are with your families," Oscar-winning French actor Jean Dujardin, who starred in the "OSS 117" movies said on social media.

France's Culture Minister Catherine Pegard paid tribute to Altmayer as a "producer with a keen eye, capable of bringing together popular comedy and auteur ambition with the same accuracy".

"By his side, Mathilde Favier embodied another form of French greatness: that of fashion and luxury," the minister added in a statement.

Bernard Arnault, CEO of conglomerate LVMH, which owns Dior, honoured Favier on the brand's Instagram account saying she "devoted so many years of her life to putting her passion, energy and talent at the service of Dior".

W.Huber--VB