Review of F for Fake (1973) by Raheem H — 29 Aug 2012

The film is one of the many Orson Welles films that is forgotten by the masses, even in terms of cinephiles. The reason why is not very much public acclaim, or success for that matter. And yet, I find that what Orson Welles did in F for Fake is immeasurable, and surely not achieved in Citizen Kane several decades prior. Welles finds, especially in the moments about an hour after he makes the promise for everything to be based on fact in the film when he gazes upon the Chartes Cathedral, the curse of humanity: that we will one day die. Animals do not realize this, but we humans do. And so why do we make art? Why does it matter why, we do, and we will die, so "go on singing" as Welles says.

F for Fake is a "film essay", in which Welles attempts to discover what exactly fraud is, what exactly truth is, what is the point of both, who experts are, why do we care for their opinion, and what exactly is the point. He uses the story of Elmyr de Hory and Clifford Irving as his back drop: Elmyr is the most famous art forger to exist, and Irving is his biographer, himself the author of a fake biography on legend Howard Hughes.

Welles does not take too much of anything seriously. The film is famous (in some groups) for its quick editing and its playful nature. No man could have narrated it better, for no man has Welles' perfectly soothing and interesting voice.

F for Fake demonstrates Orson Welles's mastery at the medium of film, but then again, so did all ten of his prior films.

F for Fake was released in 1975. It was directed by Orson Welles.