F for Fake (1973) Vérités et mensonges (original title)

Director:

Orson Welles

Writer:

Orson Welles (writer)
(more)

Release Date:

12 March 1975 (France)

Genre:

Documentary

Plot:

A documentary about fraud and fakery.

Plot Keywords:

Fraud | Biographer | Deathbed | Expert | Movie Reality Crossover

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Orson Welles	...	Himself
Oja Kodar	...	The Girl
Joseph Cotten	...	Special Participant
François Reichenbach	...	Special Participant
Richard Wilson	...	Special Participant
Paul Stewart	...	Special Participant
Alexander Welles	...	Special Participant (as Sasa Devcic)
Gary Graver	...	Special Participant
Andrés Vicente Gómez	...	Special Participant (as Andres Vincente Gomez)
Julio Palinkas	...	Special Participant
Christian Odasso	...	Special Participant
Françoise Widhoff	...	Special Participant (as Françoise Widoff)
Peter Bogdanovich	...	Special Participant (voice)
William Alland	...	Special Participant (voice)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jean-Pierre Aumont	...	Himself (uncredited)
Elmyr de Hory	...	Himself (uncredited)
Laurence Harvey	...	Himself (uncredited)
Clifford Irving	...	Himself (uncredited)
Nina van Pallandt	...	Herself (uncredited)

Directed by
Orson Welles

Writing credits
Orson Welles		(writer)
Oja Kodar		uncredited

Produced by
François Reichenbach	....	executive producer
Dominique Antoine	....	producer (uncredited)
Richard Drewitt	....	associate producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Michel Legrand

Cinematography by
François Reichenbach

Film Editing by
Marie-Sophie Dubus
Dominique Engerer
Orson Welles		(uncredited)

Sound Department
Paul Bertault	....	sound mixer

Camera and Electrical Department
Gary Graver	....	photographer: USA and Toussaint
Christian Odasso	....	photographer: France and Ibiza
Georges Pierre	....	still photographer (uncredited)
R. Michael Stringer	....	gaffer (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Dominique Boischot	....	assistant editor
Anne-Marie Engerer	....	assistant editor
Elisabeth Moulinier	....	assistant editor

Production Companies

• Janus Film
• SACI

Distributors

• Specialty Films (1977) (USA) (theatrical)
• Criterion Collection, The (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Ripley's Home Video (2005) (Italy) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Auditel  sound recording
• LAX Lab.  titles
• Roger Beaulieu  furs
• S.I.S.  sound recording
• Sonoparc Antegor  editing unit

Also Known As:

"Vérités et mensonges" - France (original title)
"About Fakes" - International (English title) (copyright title)
"Truths and Lies" - International (English title) (literal title)

Runtime:

USA:89 min

Country:

France | Iran | West Germany

Language:

English | French | Spanish

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-12 | Netherlands:12 | Sweden:Btl | UK:PG | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Aéroport d'Orly Sud, Val-de-Marne, France

Company:

Janus Film

Trivia:

An excerpt of Welles' 1930s War of the Worlds broadcast was recreated for this film, however none of the dialogue heard in the film actually matches what was originally broadcast.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The word "practitioners" is misspelled "practioners" in the opening credits.

Quotes:

Orson Welles:[quoting a phenomenal art forger] Do you think I should confess? To what? Committing masterpieces?

Movie Connections:

Featured in Prodigal Sons (2008)

L is for Influence

Orson Welles completely changed the face of film with "Citizen Kane." It was precisely right to spawn the revolution in narrative layering. For those who don't know, the Kane experiment was initiated not by Welles but Mankiewicz. But it was Welles who expanded and pulled off the success of managing so many types of narrative layers. (The number and type would be later exceeded by "Annie Hall," but no one would consider it a triggering idea by then.) I don't think Kane was his best film, but it certainly was his most influential, and as such it haunted him all his life. Especially haunting were all the types of layers he discovered after Kane. As he only had that one shot at greatness, it would have been great if he could go back and remake it, adding the new ideas. This project is the next best thing. But to see its beauty, you have to know two things: first that the layers that Kane is missing and that many filmmakers used since is the notion of annotative narrative layers. Second, you should know that several of his "lost" projects exploit just this notion, especially "Other Side of the Wind." Here's the setup in this fake documentary about fakery: You have the layer of Kane, which is based on Hearst. (A story about a storyman.) Now Welles adds the (completely bogus) layer that Kane was to be originally about Howard Hughes, a more intrinsically layered character. (This remark, incidentally, is what triggered Scorcese's interest.) Then to Welles' bogus movie about Hughes' life (itself a bogus notion) he adds another layer: Irving's bogus story about Hughes' life. But he doesn't stop there. Indeed, he goes further into another layer: an Irving story (presumably _not_ bogus) about an artist (Elmyr) who produced bogus artworks, including bogus Picassos. The first two thirds of the project are concerned with getting all these plates spinning at the same time. Some very clever editing is used to merge the layers, even though nearly all the camera-work is mundane. The final third takes all these and weaves another layer that intersperses. It begins with the image of a lovely woman to whom he introduced us in the very beginning. It was a seemingly inexplicable introduction: candid shots of men on the street ogling her vampish walk. This woman is Oja Kodar (aka Olga Palinkas), Welles' lover, companion and screen writing collaborator on all his folded projects — all lost except this one. Around this woman, Welles conflates every layer you have seen before into a story about her seducing Picasso into painting 22 pictures of her, presumably nude, of which he makes her a gift. She subsequently sells Picassos which turn out to have been produced by her grandfather, Elmyr who we saw earlier. In the earlier shots, we actually see him produce bogus paintings which are then burned. But in Welles' confabulation, the originals are burned and the fakes sold. (You should know that in the lore of folded narrative (which goes through cabala to Finnigans Wake), there are exactly 22 folds you can make and no more.) Things are tied together with Orson admitting to being a fake, and the story a fake, but perhaps necessary in the name of art? No one should see "Citizen Kane" without also seeing this annotation. Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.