F For Fake Review

A film by Orson Welles, the man — lest we forget — who faked a Martian invasion of Earth, about an art forger, whose biographer went to jail for forging Howard Hughes’ autobiography . . . F For Fake was too good an opportunity for Welles to miss. It is the case for the defence: evidence that Welles did not go down the plughole after Citizen Kane. Welles became fascinated by art forger Elmyr de Hory who could knock up a Picasso in a couple of hours. Fakery, mystery, art, truth and beauty are all to be found here. Solemnly promising that everything we see over the next hour will be true, Orson spends the final 17 minutes lying his head off.