Name: F for Fake
Genre: Documentary
Released: 1977-01-07
Duration: 89 min
Rating: 7.4

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About

Documents the lives of infamous fakers Elmyr de Hory and Clifford Irving. De Hory, who later committed suicide to avoid more prison time, made his name by selling forged works of art by painters like Picasso and Matisse. Irving was infamous for writing a fake autobiography of Howard Hughes. Welles moves between documentary and fiction as he examines the fundamental elements of fraud and the people who commit fraud at the expense of others.

Theatrical

Jan 7, 1977

Theaters

Directors

Orson Welles, François Reichenbach

Producers

Richard Drewett, Dominique Antoine, François Reichenbach

Music

Michel Legrand

Studio

SACI, Les Films de l'Astrophore, Janus Film und Fernsehen

Original Title

Vérités et Mensonges

Original Language

French

Keywords

artist manipulation illusion ibiza deception essay film forgery forger trickery

Quotes

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The Dual Nature of Art and Truth

Orson Welles Art, said, is a lie — a lie that makes us realize the truth. To the memory of that great man who will never cease to exist, I offer my apologies and wish you all, true and false, a very pleasant good evening

[Picasso]

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.

The Nature of Truth and Deception

Orson Welles At the very beginning, I - of all this, I did make you a promise. Remember? I did promise that for one hour, I'd tell you only the truth. That hour, ladies and gentlemen, is over. For the past 17 minutes, I've been lying my head off. The truth, and please forgive us for it, is that we've been forging an art story...

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.

F for Fake

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