Élisabeth Fanger (born 1956) is the French author of ''J'avais dix-huit ans'' (), an autobiographical account of her adventures following her bank-robber boyfriend Sid Mohamed Badaoui on the run from Paris. The trip would lead them to Spain,

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

, and eventually

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. Fanger's novel was made into the 2004

Benoît Jacquot Benoît Jacquot (; born 5 February 1947) is a French film director and screenwriter who has had a varied career in European cinema. In July 2024, Jacquot was charged with rape, including of a minor, and was barred from directing and having cont ...

film '' À tout de suite'' (English translation of title: ''Right Away'').

Biography

Élisabeth Fanger, who went by Lili, was an attractive art student in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. The daughter of a wealthy French industrialist, she became bored of her bourgeoisie lifestyle. She met Sid Mohamed Badaoui ("Bada") at a bar on Paris's

Champs Élysées Champs may refer to: Music * The Champs, a U.S. instrumental music group * Champs (Brazilian band), a Brazilian boy band * Champs (British band), a British folk- and indie rock-influenced band * The Fucking Champs, a U.S. progressive heavy met ...

in December 1974. Two months later, in February 1975, he called her explaining that he was on the run after a bank-robbery on Paris's Avenue de la République failed to go as planned, and resulted in a ten-hour hostage standoff that left a bank cashier and one of the robbers dead. Fanger gave Bada safe haven at her home, then fled the country with him, and with André Bellaïche (another man involved in the robbery), and Bellaïche's girlfriend. Relying on the money from the robbery, they fled to Spain, then to Morocco, Bada's original home. Their travels together ended, however, when Fanger was detained for questioning by

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

customs authorities in

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

. Left without money, baggage, or friends, she struggled to survive alone in Greece. Upon returning to France, she faced criminal charges of aiding the fugitives, and was defended by

Robert Badinter Robert Badinter (; 30 March 1928 – 9 February 2024) was a French lawyer, politician, and author who enacted the abolition of capital punishment in France in 1981, while serving as Minister of Justice under François Mitterrand. He also serve ...

. Fanger was found guilty and sentenced to prison, but received a pardon. She published her autobiography ''J'avais dix-huit ans'' (I was 18) in 2004, and the book was made into the 2004

film '' À Tout de Suite'', starring

Isild Le Besco Isild Le Besco (born 22 November 1982) is a French actress and filmmaker, who is of French and Algerian descent on her mother's side, and Vietnamese and Breton on her father's. She has starred in many films, including '' Sade'' (2000), a Frenc ...

as Lili. Fanger now lives in the south of France, and focuses on her two passions: psychoanalysis and inventions.

References

External links

J'avais 18 ans, at Amazon.frÉlizabeth Fanger's blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fanger, Elisabeth 1956 births Living people French women memoirists French memoirists Writers from Paris Recipients of French presidential pardons Big Brother (France) participants French people of Russian-Jewish descent Secret Story (French TV series)

Biography

See also

References

External links