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F for Fake

(69)IMDb 7.81h 28min1975PG

In Orson Welles's free-form documentary F for Fake, the legendary filmmaker gleefully engages the central preoccupation of his career--the tenuous line between truth and illusion, art and lies. Welles embarks on a dizzying cinematic journey that simultaneously exposes and revels in fakery and fakers of all stripes--not the least of whom is Welles himself.

Directors: Orson Welles

Starring: Orson Welles Oja Kodar Elmyr de Hory

Genres: Documentary

Subtitles: English [CC]

Audio languages: English

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Supporting actors: Clifford Irving Francois Reichenbach

Studio: The Criterion Collection

MPAA rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)

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Format: Prime Video (streaming online video)

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5 star		55%
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3 star		5%
2 star		4%
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Dana Phelps

Dazzling and Relevant in 2020

Reviewed in the United States on August 21, 2020

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Orson Welles invented a genre. This is the first mockumentary, the first intentional film fraud (which is done with comedic respect), the first movie to make fun of itself with flair, humor and intelligence inspired by Fellini. The budget was next to nothing but Welles had editorial controls for the first time again in his career! We have the actual vision as intended and it's breathtaking. The genius of Welles will talk about a highly relevant issue of today which is the percentage of perceived frauds hanging on museum walls around the world. Some estimate it close to 100%! This covers an interesting story about a gifted artist from Hungary who was starving in the USA before selling off ingenuine art paintings of noted masters whose signatures are worth a lot of money. The narrative dances around the spice and fun of the crime and sizzles with the wine drunk enthusiasm of the art world's social constructs. On top of all this, Welles infuses magic into the plot with surprising technical and creative wonder.

This is a gem and I'm happy that Welles is still being appreciated more and more.

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D. Scott Apel

A Real "Killer" B Movie (one of 237!)

Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2015

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This review is an excerpt from my book "Killer B's: The 237 Best Movies On Video You've (Probably) Never Seen," which is available as an ebook on Amazon. If you enjoy this review, there are 236 more like it in the book (plus a whole lot more). Check it out!

F FOR FAKE: "I'm a charlatan," Orson admits in his introduction. "And this is a film about trickery. About fraud. About...lies." It's all that, and much more. There are four principal players in this story "rotten with coincidence." The first is Elmyr de Hory, the world's greatest art forger, who paints in the style of every modern master (we watch him paint a passable Matisse on camera, for example), and claims to have works hanging in every major gallery in the world.

The second "character" is author Clifford Irving, who wrote a book about Elmyr entitled "Fake"--and who would later become famous for attempting his own hoax, obtaining an enormous advance for a book based on an alleged interview with billionaire recluse Howard Hughes. The third character is Welles himself, a man who began his career with a spectacular hoax (the "War of the Worlds" radio broadcast) and who then headed for Hollywood with the original intention to film a thinly-veiled biography of an eccentric millionaire--not William Randolph Hearst, but Howard Hughes.

If it sounds as though the film comes full circle, be aware that the above synopsis is only the first of numerous wheels-within-wheels revolving within the pinwheel of Welles' penultimate film. This mind-boggling movie is a trip through the looking glass of truth and lies, which chase each other's tails to the point that they become indistinguishable. (Consider the story of the man who paid for a forgery with a bouncing check, or Welles' attempt to distinguish between real fakes and fake fakes, and you might see how these strange loops of deception spiral deeper, ever deeper.)

It's a very personal document as well: a meditation on Art, and on the art of larceny. As Pablo Picasso (who becomes the fourth major character in the film) said, "Art is a lie--a lie that makes us realize the truth." Welles would never confess to "committing masterpieces," but at least he left us this final magic trick: a Chinese puzzle box for the intellect.

3 people found this helpful

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Rock Auntie

Beautiful People, Art, Scenery & Trying to Justify Being a Fraud - How Timely!

Reviewed in the United States on July 7, 2016

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Quite a unique documentary about an art forger most Americans know nothing about, and the fraudster Clifford Irving, who folks of a "certain age" do know!
Terrific scenery, comments on the art world, that is filled with fakes and charming, though specious arguments, presented by Elmyr DeHory and Clifford Irving.
Always wonderful to watch the great Orson Welles, even though he hams it up at the end with his (according to IMDb) girlfriend/actress of the time.

One person found this helpful

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Larry

Outstanding documentary and inside look into fraud

Reviewed in the United States on June 6, 2020

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Orson Well's presence makes this worthwhile by itself. Fascinating story.

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Jan Van Steenwijk

in spite of the great actor Orson

Reviewed in the United States on October 24, 2016

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Poorly written and executed, in spite of the great actor Orson Weles

2 people found this helpful

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BBC fan

Sounded interesting, was not interesting

Reviewed in the United States on October 5, 2018

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Did not like

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A Cinematic Juggling Act

Reviewed in the United States on February 18, 2008

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His last major work as a filmmaker, Orson Welles' "F for Fake" (1973) survives as a rough-edged yet provocative essay on the art of fraud. In this instance, we have three noted subjects: art forger extraordinaire Elmyr de Hory, Clifford Irving (the novelist who conned the world as Howard Hughes' "authorized biographer") and Welles himself. Editing plays a vital role as the Great Orson maintains his semi-documentary juggling act for 90 minutes. Fittingly enough, "F for Fake" reveals more about the creator of "Citizen Kane" than the minor curiosities he examines. Welles ends his cinematic odyssey with an affectionate wink.

24 people found this helpful

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Kat Sharp

... of it to see if it would get any better. We like Orson Welles movies

Reviewed in the United States on September 22, 2016

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We actually FF through a lot of it to see if it would get any better. We like Orson Welles movies. This is a documentary and was very dry and uneventful IMHO. My brother-in-law recommended it. He liked it.

One person found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

B.N.H.

INTERESTING BUT WEIRD.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 25, 2017

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This is a strange piece of work, as I can't really tell you what the film?..documentary?..art work?, That's the whole thing, it's hard to say just what exactly this is or what it's propperly about. But it captivates you and you end up watching it. I don't know what got me buying this dvd, I can't remember what made me order it. Perhaps a youtube review, I don't know, I'd never heard of it before, yet something got me to order it. I enjoyed it, even though I dunno truly what it was about. It centres on, I think a real life Hungarian art fraudster who managed to fool the art world with his own quickly painted artwork & kind of tells his story along with his American biographer who also may have faked an interview with Howard Huges. I can't really elaborate on the rest of the story because I don't fully know what was going on. There was something about a woman auctioning off picasso paintings he'd said should never be sold then he stormed into the auction & said they're not his work. There are a few scenes of Orson Welles doing magic tricks at the begining and the end & then Welles at the end of it all tells us the last 15 minutes were a lie and it all ends...? There are two extra features a commentary track with the cinematographer of the piece who toward the end of the commentary is tired and fed up. There is also a 28 interview about the film by Johnathan Rosenbaum (who I don't know who is) plus a 40 page booklet too. I'd adivise any fan of cinema to watch it as it entertaining, but if you come away understanding any of it, you're attention span is way better than mine. It doesn't help that the film frits back and forth all the time though.

Stagger Lee

Welles' Ultimate Shaggy Dog Story...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 11, 2015

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This is a playful piece of meta-documentary film-making, something that showed remarkable prescience about our current era of dubious reporting, Twitter myth-making and Wikipedia fabrication. It interweaves fact and fiction in a manner which is both seamless and exhilarating. Welles, using his most powerful attribute - that velvet baritone, is able to maintain a compelling narrative throughout. It is so full of innovation, of ideas bigger and bolder than the central premise, that it continues to be one of Welles' freshest and most timeless cinematic enterprises.

This really does belong on every cineaste's DVD shelf...

2 people found this helpful

Gabor Lux

It is all a fake - or is it?

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 14, 2012

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F for Fake is part documentary about art forgery, and part a forgery itself - but a forgery that doesn't take itself seriously, and is completely forthright about being one. Using documentary footage about art forger Elmyr de Hory, aggressively cut and edited to create a sort of disorienting hall of mirrors effect, Welles provides a glimpse into a world where fakers are enabled to forge the works of famous artists precisely by the authority of the experts who validate their forgeries as authentic, and the complicity of both art dealers and buyers in maintaining the illusion.

The story becomes even more complicated: does Elmyr's biography lose authenticity if his biographer is himself exposed as a fraud - in a case linking him to the elusive Howard Hughes, the main inspiration for Citizen Kane? What happens when a string of fake Picassos are lauded as new masterpieces? And what if the fakes are accepted into canon and for their artistic value? It is all a wondrous, playful game, where Welles, who had himself started his career by feigning to be a Hollywood celebrity in Ireland (or so he tells us), and later with the War of the Worlds radio broadcast hoax, is narrating the film with his usual memorable lines ("He gave you a false check for a false painting?", "August in France... this is when someone could take the country by telephone... if someone would answer it."), at least when he isn't implicating Picasso in the forgery of his own works, or spinning a story about the myths and facts surrounding Hughes, himself and his mistress - the co-author and co-star of this movie.

Fake personas appear among real ones, persons are switched for one another, and the truth is used as liberally as fiction in a great, understated comedy. Nothing in this movie is trustworthy, since movies aren't trustworthy. After all, that's precisely what the movie tells about itself.

4 people found this helpful

gerrard

f for funny

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 15, 2012

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Anyone who enjoyed Orson Welles appearances on tv chat shows like Parkinson in the 70's should give this a look.great storytelling,a bit of magic and plenty of spoof.highly amusing and entertaining

3 people found this helpful

Peter Holman

Four Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 12, 2016

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A fascinating classic

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