2. F For Fake (Orson Welles, 1973)
"Art...is a lie a lie that makes us realise the truth" - Picasso, as quoted by Welles. F For Fake is a sort of documentary essay and the final film completed by Orson Welles before he passed away. When asked about it, Welles would describe it as a whole new kind of film altogether. Welles let's us in on the key to his ploy (while doing a trick with a key) at the beginning of the film. Setting us up for his ultimate illusion. When he suggests that he will tell the truth for "the next hour", we make an assumption. And despite the fact that when the time comes...and things seem really odd (ie when Welles is playing Oja's grandfather and Oja's playing Picasso)...we still have a tendency to be asking ourselves the question: is what we are watching true of false? We tend to remain in a confused state until Welles let's us in on the fact that he has been "lying for the last 17 minutes". Even though we have been watching a story about frauds liars and fakery- that itself is a bunch of lies- for the past hour, we still seem to suspend doubt. Says something about human psychology, doesn't it. Jonathan Rosenbaum, in his essay 'Orson Welless Purloined Letter', discusses how, 'by virtue of being personal and pocketed, then taken away and eventually returned to its owner, the key is precisely symbolic of the viewers creative investment and participation solicited in Welles experiment' over the next eighty-odd minutes". And after he already stated that 'it's not symbolic of anything.' That sneaky b*stard! There are also a bunch of little tricks which exploit human psychology hidden throughout the film. One example can be seen in the scene where the magician is in the airport leading the illusion during which Oja is hidden in a suitcase. The magician is a not actually Welles... it's a double. But if you aren't paying close enough attention, your mind will automatically assume it's Welles. Rosenbaum observed that this same stunt was pulled again in the 'girlwatching' scene, with Oja being replaced by her sister in this case. The double-switch is a trick that filmmakers use when an almost finished film loses a major actor to sickness, death or whatever other reason. When Welles lost actors from one of his final film projects, he swore he was going to finish the film in this way. Another clever psychological trick from the film is pointed out in Rosenbaum's essay, and I would have totally missed it if he didn't mention it. He describes how- in the introduction- when the camera is panning over the words labeled on film canisters, the one says 'PRACTIONERS'. Because the camera is moving, we don't have time to read it properly and we tend to perceive it to be 'PRACTITIONERS', as that is what fits the flow of the sentence. The documentary portion of the film focuses on the intertwined lives of two infamous fraudsters. Elmyr, the Art forger, whose entire life is based on tall tales and lies, to the point that no one knows what to believe. The second is author Clifford Irving, who both wrote Elmyr's biography and then emulated his model by writing a fake autobiography about Howard Hughes. The credibility of the two men is so shoddy, that even if Welles is trying to portray a truthful portrait of them and their relationship, it's almost impossible to know what to believe. As both men have made their livelihoods from fashioning their own mythologies. Welles repeatedly alludes to reasons why even he should not be trusted, which is contrasted by the fact that he is in a position of authority as host and narrator. After pondering on this we become psychologically conflicted and don't know who or what to trust. It's almost like Welles is manufacturing paranoia within us. After watching this go try and watch a normal documentary, where someone is giving expert testimony or an account of something...you are going to question their authority. He makes us even more uncomfortable when he breaks down our understanding of expertise, essentially arguing that the fraudsters are the real experts, while painting the so-called experts as the ultimate dupes. It's probably the most truthful revelation in this film, to be honest. Who needs War Of The Worlds when this concept alone could bring down, the economy - and society as a whole - returning us to a state of anarchy. What should make us most suspect of all, though, is in the end, when Welles admits he had been lying for the last 17 minutes. This is an indirect (misdirection) way of claiming that the previous hour had, in fact, been truthful. We should keep in mind that a magicians most effective tool of deception is his/her ability to placate our doubts (and exert their authority) with false claims that are designed to mislead us. Recall that Welles tells us straight-up near the beginning of the film: "Magicians are just actors, playing the part of magicians." The beginning and endings of films are usually their most important parts. The ending of this film gets to the very heart of it's purpose: to make us question whether cinema (or any other artistic medium, for that matter) possesses any inherent ability to purvey "truth". With that being said, Welles has successfully manipulated each and every one of us into actively participating in the illusion of his film, as we always do. That may not make him an expert, but it certainly qualifies him as a master in my opinion.