Picture of the movie F for Fake © DR
F For Fake: Orson Welles picks out the truth
Cannes Classics pays tribute to legendary film genius Orson Welles (Citizen Kane, Othello, Touch of Evil). Presented here in a restored version, F For Fake was one of the director's last films, and was finished by a second director, François Reichenbach, before being released in 1973.
What greater hoax than art? In F for Fake, Orson Welles challenges the authenticity of the artistic act, notably through the character of Elmyr de Hory. The "counterfeitist" of the century copied paintings by artists such as Modigliani so precisely that even the greatest art experts were conned. Whether authentic or faked, is not the essence of art the sparking of emotion, the questioning of reality?
Orson Welles veers between fiction and reality, truth and lie. He opens the film staring into the camera, saying:
“Tell it by the fireside or in a marketplace or in a movie, almost any story is almost certainly some kind of lie.”
Eighty-five minutes of vibrant montage ensue, set to music by Michel Legrand, in a whirlwind of artworks, interviews, and snippets of Orson Welles himself. Rather than seeking to tackle the idea of fraud, the film concerns itself with the degree of truth contained within each fiction, the duality between illusion and truth.
Presented by Les Films de L’Astrophore and the Cinémathèque Française in partnership with Documentaire sur Grand Écran. Restored by Les Films de L’Astrophore and the Cinémathèque Française in collaboration with Documentaire sur Grand Écran, the Cinémathèque Suisse, and the Institut Audiovisuel de Monaco, with support from Hiventy and the Fondation d’Entreprise Neuflize OBC. Image and audio restoration works were carried out at the Hiventy lab using the original negative, and at the Studio L.E. Diapason from 35-millimetre magnetic film.
