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Poster for F for Fake

F for Fake

1973 · 89 min

A playful, intellectually mischievous essay that blurs truth and lies, making you question what you see while enjoying the ride.

Tagline
A magician is just an actor playing the part of a magician.
Overview
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.

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How it feels

Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Tone
  • satiricalstrength 3 of 3
  • whimsicalstrength 2 of 3
  • cynicalstrength 2 of 3
  • earneststrength 2 of 3
Pacing
brisk, 3 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
Attention
demanding, 4 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
Themes
  • deception
  • art
  • identity
  • morality
  • media
Places
  • big city
  • countryside
Era
contemporary
Audience
adult
Form
  • nonlinear
  • unreliable narrator
Content intensity
  • Gore none
  • Language mild
  • Violence none
  • Sex mild
All scales, 0 to 10
Scales, 0 to 10
ScaleValue0 to 10
Action1
Horror0
Humour6
Realism7
Romance2
Tension3
Darkness3
Complexity9
Emotional weight4

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Where to watch in the UK

Rent
  • Amazon Video
Buy
  • Apple TV Store
  • Amazon Video

Streaming data from JustWatch.All options on TMDB

Details

Genres
documentary
Directed by
Orson Welles, François Reichenbach
Written by
Orson Welles, François Reichenbach
Starring
Orson Welles, Oja Kodar, Elmyr de Hory, Clifford Irving, Laurence Harvey, Edith Irving, David Walsh, Paul Stewart
Music
Michel Legrand
Cinematography
François Reichenbach
Runtime
89 min
Country
France, Germany, Iran
Languages
English, French, Spanish

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