Review of F for Fake (1973) by Ganesan K — 01 Sep 2009

Orson Welleâ??s final movie is neither a movie nor is it a documentary in its true essence. Peter Bogdanovich, in the DVD intro of the film, calls it an â??essay-documentary â??and I got to admit I donâ??t even know what that means.

But after watching it, you will realise that itâ??s one long practical joke that Welles plays on the unsuspecting audience and I have to say I really enjoyed having the rug pulled out from under me at the end of the 90mins :).

The joke begins interestingly enough in a candid camera sort of way showcasing the fine art of girl watching. You get to see real men â?? not actors â?? practically drooling over a stunning beauty â?? as she walks down a crowded street. You donâ??t see the beautiful face of the girl â?? that will come much later â?? but what you see is the same as what the men in that segment are going absolutely gaga over: her legs which begin from the ground and stretch up all the way to heaven and her short dress that pays tribute to Godâ??s greatest creation â?? the female derriere;).

And then we are swiftly taken to the heart of the film as we are introduced to the whole caper involving the notorious art forger Elmyr de Hory and his biographer Clifford Irving - who became more infamous than the former for his own shenanigans with regards to writing the autobiography on Howard Hughes. We know now that Cliffordâ??s â??bookâ?? turned out to be the hoax of the century and itâ??s now considered to be a classic case of forgery, bar none.

During this major part of the film, the art world itself is attacked â?? especially the dealers and the collectors who actually pave the way for such conmen. We also get a look at Welleâ??s early career where he himself admits, on camera, that his entry into Hollywood via radio and eventually movies was an act of fraud.

Welles challenges the viewer to distinguish between what is real and what is fake, and thatâ??s when the final 30mins of the film takes us back to the stunning beauty Oja Kodar, Pablo Picasso and an affair concerning 22 erotic paintings :).

F for Fake is like Welles making a forgery out of his own masterpiece â?? nicely done :).