F for Fake (1973)

A documentary about fraud and fakery.

Directors:

Orson Welles, Gary Graver (uncredited)

Writer:

Orson Welles

Stars:

Orson Welles, Oja Kodar, François Reichenbach

3 wins.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Orson Welles	...	Himself - Narrator (voice)
Oja Kodar	...	Herself - The Girl
François Reichenbach	...	Himself - Special Participant
Elmyr de Hory	...	Himself
Clifford Irving	...	Himself
Laurence Harvey	...	Himself
Edith Irving	...	Herself
David Walsh	...	Himself
Paul Stewart	...	Himself - Special Participant
Richard Wilson	...	Himself - Special Participant
Joseph Cotten	...	Himself - Special Participant
Howard Hughes	...	Himself (archive footage)
Richard Drewitt	...	Himself - Associate Producer (as Richard Drewett)
Alexander Welles	...	Special Participant (as Sasa Devcic)
Gary Graver	...	Special Participant

Storyline

Orson Welles' free-form documentary about fakery focusses on the notorious art forger Elmyr de Hory and Elmyr's biographer, Clifford Irving, who also wrote the celebrated fraudulent Howard Hughes autobiography, then touches on the reclusive Hughes and Welles' own career (which started with a faked resume and a phony Martian invasion). On the way, Welles plays a few tricks of his own on the audience.

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Plot Keywords:

fraud | painter | cigar | biographer | ibiza | 

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Genres:

Documentary

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

France Iran West Germany

Language:

English French Spanish

Release Date:

12 March 1975 (France)

Also Known As:

F for Fake

Filming Locations:

Orly Airport, Orly, Val-de-Marne, France

Company Credits

Production Co:

Les Films de l'Astrophore,SACI,Janus Film und Fernsehen

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Welles filmed a trailer that lasted for nine minutes and featured several shots of a topless Oja Kodar. The trailer was rejected by the US distributors.

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Goofs

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

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Quotes

Orson Welles: I did promise that for one hour, I'd tell you only the truth. That hour, ladies and gentlemen, is over. For the past seventeen minutes, I've been lying my head off.

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Connections

Featured in TCM Guest Programmer: Penn & Teller (2006)

User Reviews

F For Fantastic, Farouche, Fanciful, Farcical, Fabulous.

There is so much zest, wit, fun, cheek, energy in this supremely entertaining film, that it's a crime that Orson Welles never directed another one. It's packed with as many ideas and potential future directions as CITIZEN KANE, but bizarrely hasn't received an nth of that classic's acclaim. Indeed only Godard's later documentaries seem to be at all influenced by this delightful fancy.

The film dazzles on so many levels. As a story about five interesting characters - two art forgers, a charlatan biographer, Howard Hughes (famous recluse, and disseminator of misleading information and doubles), and the great Orsino himself, myth-maker and magician. Their stories, fascinating in themselves, mingle, juxtapose and clash, to provide a complex essay on the nature of art, the links between illusion, life, forgery and artifice.

Elmyr is a master forger whose 'works' appear in many galleries. His story makes us ask: what is art? What is it about art that moves us - the thing itself, or its perceived value? In an age of mechanical reproduction, can authenticity survive, is it a viable (or even desirable) option? Does any of this actually matter? Maybe because everything in a post-modern culture is reproduced, the aura of the original work of art (pace Benjamin) becomes even more powerful. Or maybe a proliferation of fakes, doubles, illusions asks us to profoundly question received truths, official versions, 'authorities', who would make us believe in repressive wholes and canons, stories that tell one experience, and deny many others. Art itself is a forgery, of nature or the imagination - the forger is little different from an interpreter (e.g. Welles and Shakespeare): he cannot help stamping his own personality on the work.

These questions are very complex, and cannot be grasped in one viewing. The film's form is bewildering and exhilirating. Welles promises us, in this tale of fakery, truth for an hour, but this is a truth we must make out for ourselves. Breathless narration; visual puns; the weaving of documentary footage, stills, reconstructions, other films; tireless, confusing editing; rapid subject changes; all manage to disrupt and complicate an essentially straightforward story.

Welles the narrator is an absolute delight, a jovial trickster, with his gorgeous hearty laugh, games, aphorisms, comments, allusions; and yet behind it all is an extraordinarily depressing account of his own career, the perception of failure and broken promises, and the onset of mortality.

The last 20 minutes is an extraordinary coup de cinema, as well as a masterpiece of storytelling. The Legrand music is playful and energetic, before finally slowing down for a very melancholy climax. This film is a remarkable one-off: frustrating, irritating, stimulating, astonishing, hilarious. It always pulls the rug from under your feet, and you gleefully await your next tumble. Only Bunuel began and ended his career with the same passion and genius, the same desire to demand the most from his audiences, refusing to rest on his considerable laurels. Absolutely wonderful.