F For Fake is, simply put, one of the grandest film viewings I’ve ever had. It is like nothing I’ve ever seen – nay, experienced - before. It’s not really even your traditional ‘movie’. It’s a mesh between movie and documentary, but it really isn’t either one of them. It is an entirely original concept Welles came up with, and it works marvellously. The movie ends up witty, fast paced, and entertaining. But beneath the external charm and energy there is a labyrinth of thoughtful meditation and philosophical explorations which seem to make the true essence of the film. And to top it all off, F For Fake is one of the best edited films – ever.
The film is externally a look at art forgery - it focuses on an infamous art forger, and an infamous author who did a book on him. F For Fake provides a very probing look into the life of this art forger, which progresses into the elaborate forgery of a biography on Howard Hughs, and then later into an exploration of Picasso. As it does this, everything is spliced together expertly, and it is all very entertaining. Like I said, it’s fast, it’s witty, and it’s really fun to watch. Welles is a charmer, both as the ‘host’ and as the filmmaker. However, while the film covers these stories with careful precision and makes them quite entertaining to learn about, the true spirit of the film lies hidden under the externals.
F For Fake is like a sort of Welles memoir where we gain insight into his deepest thoughts, and he uses the film to ask some very fascinating questions. What is art? What is forgery? Who is authority? In the end, is there really a difference between ‘authentic’ and ‘fake’? The film is a mine of evocative and compelling themes; they struck me as all surprisingly and deeply profound. But the deepest core of the film is what really struck me the most. There is a monologue part way through about how, in the end, all art will be destroyed and turned to ash anyways. Death is inevitable. Everything we do, everything we accomplish. Everything we put our love into. It will be gone one day.
“Our works in stone, in paint, in print, are spared, some of them, for a few decades or a millennium or two, but everything must finally fall in war, or wear away into the ultimate and universal ash - the triumphs, the frauds, the treasures and the fakes. A fact of life: we're going to die. "Be of good heart," cry the dead artists out of the living past. "Our songs will all be silenced, but what of it? Go on singing." Maybe a man's name doesn't matter all that much.”
It was one of the most impactful monologues I’ve ever heard in a film. At that point of the movie I realized this was more than just fast paced wit and entertainment. F For Fake is an intellectual, scholarly essay of sorts. You couldn’t tell by looking at its exterior, but when you really see the film, it knocks the wind out of you, and there is nothing I’ve ever seen that comes close to how profound the film was for me. The themes explored are simply so resonant with me, and I could really see how Welles was using the film near the end of his life to document some of the questions he had about life.
But the genius does not end there. As I’ve touched base on a couple times, F For Fake is a very intricately constructed film, and we have the editing to thank for this. Welles constructed his final feature using many different pieces of stock footage mixed in with footage he shot himself. He seamlessly patches everything together into a perfectly flowing, entirely original and innovative, swift moving documentary/movie. The way he edited everything together is unmatched by any film I’ve ever seen. No one has edited something like this before and been successful. In fact, I don’t think anyone has even tried, period. It is entirely self aware and even at times becomes a self parody. Yet it has a strange and almost eerie connection with the audience in that the film knows it is different and takes advantage of the moment to sweep you off your feet and send you away in an hour and a half torrent of madness. It must have taken an age to patch F For Fake together, and I admire Welles for it, because the end result is a magnificent one of. It the best edited films ever.
However, I don’t even know if I can recommend this to everyone. I loved and adored it so much because I was able to accept that this film was not going to be following your standard movie formula whatsoever. I was able to accept that it goes completely against everything narrative cinema has taught you; you cannot compare this to any other film, because there really is no other film like it. But what makes F For Fake one of my all time favourite films was that I was able to make a profound connection with it. It really impacted me on a personal level like almost no other film has ever done. But I’m not sure how ‘profound’ other people would see it as, because the themes explored are ones that resonate very well with me, but maybe not others.
But F For Fake is still a very clever and sharp film, even if you don’t find it all that profound. Even if the themes don’t appeal to you, and the structure seems too ambiguous, perhaps you will still be able to have fun with it because it is still a seriously witty and entertaining movie. Ultimately, wit and charm go only so far, and what makes F For Fake one of my favourite films is the personal connection I made to the subtext carefully hidden under the witty exterior. Welles created tidal waves in the cinema world when he entered the stage with Citizen Kane - but I believe that despite F For Fake remaining obscure and unseen, Welles also managed to create tidal waves in the world of cinema when he left the stage with F For Fake.
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