F for Fake (1973)

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A documentary about fraud and fakery. (imdb)

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Directed By: Orson Welles

Written By: Orson Welles, Oja Kodar

Starring: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Paul Stewart, Gary Graver, François Reichenbach, Richard Wilson, Oja Kodar, Clifford Irving, Andrés Vicente Gómez, Elmyr de Hory, Alexander Welles, Julio Palinkas

Genre: Documentary

AKA: Vérités et mensonges

Country: France, Iran, West Germany

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F for Fake belongs to 69 collections

1. 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die (collaborative: moderated by kozan26 - 236 stars)

2. Criterion Collection (collaborative: moderated by caffe - 166 stars)

3. Mindfuck (collaborative: moderated by Mockus - 86 stars)

4. Features under 91 minutes (collaborative: moderated by epiphany - 56 stars)

5. boobs (collaborative: moderated by Pickpocket - 51 stars)

6. Psychotronic Film and Video Guides (collaborative: moderated by Gregzilla - 40 stars)

7. They Shoot Pictures 1,000 Greatest Films (2008 revision) (collaborative: moderated by Scottathon - 39 stars)

8. Jonathan Rosenbaum's Top 1000 Movies (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 38 stars)

9. They Shoot Pictures 1,000 Greatest Films (2010 revision) (collaborative: moderated by MMAlpha - 32 stars)

10. They Shoot Pictures 1,000 Greatest Films (2014 revision) (collaborative: moderated by Jehan - 27 stars)

11. They Shoot Pictures 1,000 Greatest Films (2012 revision) (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 25 stars)

12. They Shoot Pictures 1,000 Greatest Films (2017 revision) (collaborative: moderated by iconogassed - 22 stars)

13. Best of criticker: Documentary (collaborative: moderated by avgcrtckr - 19 stars)

14. They Shoot Pictures 1,000 Greatest Films (2013 revision) (collaborative: moderated by rant1229 - 16 stars)

15. Slant Magazine's 100 Essential Films (collaborative: moderated by nexus - 14 stars)

16. They Shoot Pictures 1,000 Greatest Films (2011 revision) (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 14 stars)

17. They Shoot Pictures 1,000 Greatest Films (2020 revision) (public: djross - 14 stars)

18. Con Artist(s) (collaborative: moderated by iceblox - 11 stars)

19. Cinema Discusso Yearly Consensus (2008) (public: PeaceAnarchy - 10 stars)

20. Sight and Sound 2002 (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 9 stars)

21. The Village Voice: 150 Groundbreaking Films (public: kevinjoseph - 9 stars)

22. Documentaries about art (collaborative: moderated by djross - 8 stars)

23. David Thomson's 1000 Films (collaborative: moderated by MMAlpha - 7 stars)

24. Djross cinematic essays (public: djross - 7 stars)

25. Masters of Cinema (collaborative: moderated by hristos - 6 stars)

26. Best by different standards (public: sesito71 - 6 stars)

27. Films referenced in Histoire(s) du cinéma (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 5 stars)

28. Capsules, guest reviews, list candidates... (366weirdmovies) (collaborative: moderated by sesito71 - 5 stars)

29. Djross best documentaries (public: djross - 5 stars)

30. They Shoot Pictures 1,000 Greatest Films (2007 revision) (collaborative: moderated by Scottathon - 4 stars)

31. BFI Screen Guides' 100 American Independent Films (collaborative: moderated by Coheed - 4 stars)

32. Sight & Sound Greatest Documentaries of all Time (collaborative: moderated by avgcrtckr - 4 stars)

33. Djross great movies (public: djross - 4 stars)

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35. Criterion Collection (Blu-ray and 4K) (public: PepeCamello - 3 stars)

36. Djross film as art (public: djross - 3 stars)

37. Djross documentary of the year (public: djross - 2 stars)

38. My Top 100 Films (public: AutumnLily - 2 stars)

39. my DVDs (collaborative: moderated by Jeb - 1 star)

40. "Filmmakers: Favorite Film" (collaborative - 1 star)

41. Time Out's 50 Best Documentaries of All Time (collaborative: moderated by theficionado - 1 star)

42. Moviedrome: Alex Cox (collaborative: moderated by Ag0stoMesmer - 1 star)

43. Meta-documentaries/documentaries about documentaries (collaborative: moderated by iconogassed - 1 star)

44. Cinetheque (public: allegreller - 1 star)

45. Antagony & Ecstacy: The Best Films of All Time (public: Nroo - 1 star)

46. Michel Legrand (composer) (collaborative: moderated by djross)

47. Versátil Home Video (collaborative: moderated by allegreller)

48. My Personal Canon: 1974 (collaborative: moderated by Coheed)

49. Counterfeiting and forgery (collaborative: moderated by iconogassed)

50. nminichino DVD collection (public: nminichino)

51. Egbert's Top 25 (public: EgbertSouse)

52. films to rewatch (public: kubricksucks)

53. Djross 1973 top ten (public: djross)

54. 2C (public: twisp)

55. 1001 Movies You Must See (and I have) (public: donkeyjelly)

56. Favourite Performances (public: AutumnLily)

57. 1973: Year in Review (public: polanski28)

58. Rian Johnson's Top 10 Criterion Collection Films (public: TychoCelchuu)

59. Filmspotting Ratings Project: Week 8 (public: PeaceAnarchy)

60. Peliculas que tengo (public: escarta)

61. No termine de ver (public: escarta)

62. İran Sineması (public: jamiryo)

63. Rewatch & Random (public: ForrestQ)

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65. P. Watched List (public: nnraiden)

66. Filmstruck Wishlist (public: kendell)

67. New Beverly Cinema (public: xmoffx)

68. My ratings (public: tpbradbury)

69. Djross top 300 movies (2023 edition) (public: djross)

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All Ratings | With Reviews

Order by:

TCI | Percentile | Date Rated | # Stars (Reviews)

Stars	User	Rating
10	MartinTeller	95 _98th
An incredibly original and rewarding study of charlatans of all stripes, while simultaneously laying bare the fakery of its own construction, and of filmmaking in general. It's also about art and authorship and experts. It feels a lot like jazz. Variations on a theme, a dash of this and a burst of that, giving each "musician" (Elmyr, Irving, Hughes, Welles, Oja) a time to shine. Plus it's got a jazzy score, which enhances that sensation. A playful and very fun film.
8	Alex Watkins	5 _91st
This may be the definitive Orson Welles film. It's a highlight and celebration of Welles' favorite aspect of filmmaking: the editing room. He twists and turns, uses manipulation, misdirection and montage to suggest things to the viewer without implicitly stating them, allowing us to fall prey to his trickery (and we willingly oblige) and using his formidable technical skills to celebrate his own abilities and the ability of the film medium as a whole. A truly virtuoso work.
7	purgatos	100 _99th
On an visual medium, I find it strange that this is probably the most visual film I've ever seen. I heard it described as being like music for the eyes, and this is absolutely true. It moves rhythmically, the editing seems to bring in and let go of its visual themes, it's like a symphony of images. Welles was a wizard, a true wizard.
6	Magb	90 _85th
More like "F for Fuuuuuuuuuuuck". This film is unlike any other I've seen. Where most films have some sort of story that ultimately goes from A to B, F for Fake seems to touch on every letter in the alphabet in a completely random order. It so thoroughly blurs the line between fact and fiction that you'll be left feeling like no such line could ever exist in the first place. Its editing is both confusing and intoxicating. I don't know if anyone else than Welles could make this film work.
6	febraro	85 _80th
It's like wandering through Welles mind. Truly innovative, involving and a joy to watch in almost every sense.
5	Pickpocket	9 _93rd
This movie is a mind fuck. I can't believe someone wrote that this film is pretentious, it's like the complete opposite of that. It's so original that I found myself getting angry that Welles wasn't immortal and could keep churning out shit forever. Definite must see.
5	goremeat	90 _95th
Although at times very personal and profound, I think this really stands out on the merits of its postmodern critique. The slight of hand tricks of editing; the layering of his own career and criticism; the somehow sombre and celebratory mood - all the while jabbing at the art gatekeepers, still retaining the skilful power the artist can have over the audience. Absolutely amazing. Like Calvino's If On A Winter's Night, but full of genuine personal thought.
4	doctor7	93 _96th
Fantastic film which deals with the art of trickery and forgery. In the end you don't know what exactly is true and what exactly is a lie but that is the point.
4	BillyShears	80 _77th
Throw any other fat man in a cape and you have a joke, throw Orson in one and you got CLASSSSS.
4	Yiannos	85 _97th
A mind melding trip into the world of illusion and fakery, Welles' 'documentary' is one of the most fascinating explorations of the problem of 'artistic authenticity' in the pre-digital world, questioning the ontological basis of imagery and image making, as well the cultural assumptions underlying the halo effect that is central to the value of original art. Thankfully, it also functions as a knowingly playful deconstruction of his own complicity as a master image conjurer. Superb.
3	Derekstar	90 _85th
Only a classy motherfucker like Orson Wells can pull off wearing a cape.
3	Hawkins	76 _59th
A kaleidoscope of editing with Welles (equal parts Wonka and Santa) as tour guide. I'm just not as impressed with the art forger as he wants me to be - it's not like the guy's faking Rembrandt, he's doing Mondrian and Modigliani. That's simple stuff, what Bob Ross teaches you requires about as much technique as that. Still, it's a fun jab at the posturing of critics and the unimpeachable value of 'master'works. People want to be tricked, complicit to magic.
3	JPFerguson	92 _97th
This is film as video essay before there was film as video essay. Welles the magician (remembering that Welles was a semi-professional magician in 'real life') has lots of fun, and so too do all other facets of Welles the enigma. Watching this is an insight into the inner workings of Welles' mind (more so than any of his other films); the way in which Welles perceived and constructed the world (after he met Oja Kodar, she co-created this film). For 88 minutes you too can be Orson Welles.
2	DMCrimson	92 _99th
After finishing, I didn't know what to believe other than that Orson Welles is smarter than me.
2	djross	88 _97th
An incredible feat of pre-digital editing in the service of an essayistic style that seems premised on the notion that audiences are capable of more than is usually asked of them. Perhaps Welles was just a little too infatuated with Oja Kodar (which isn't an accusation), but overall the composition of fact and fiction is conducted as a virtuoso performance of cinematic artifice.
2	Nathan S	4 _74th
If ever the clichéd idiom of "spinning a yarn" applied more aptly to another film, I haven't seen it. Here is a free-associative and exhausting dive into deception, and Welles himself is not above it: engaging in all manner of edited chicanery to (mis)appropriate these outrageous stories. He regards the eternal question of "what is art?" with self-effacing humor, a bemused joviality through which only a faint solace is offered: that between lies, a greater truth may be discerned. Or maybe not.
2	TedDedon	86 _76th
Very interesting
2	FoolioM	100 _94th
A meditation on fact, form and function, -------- marks the triumphant, resounding defeat of all three. Some films modify their genre, some contemporize it, some define it and still others revolutionize it. This film invented it's genre.
2	Freder	85 _78th
The film itself is an elaborate hoax about elaborate hoaxters, Extravagant and, like Welles himself, a little too clever for its own good.
2	KasperL	55 _39th
Orson Welles is a fascinating character and this film is worth checking out because he is in it. As for the film itself, though, right from the beginning it's all too obvious where it's going, i.e. where Orson wants to take us. A rather uneven and indulgent affair.
2	paulofilmo	71 _69th
Deliciously fun. Experts? Honesty? Truth? Reality?
2	Jeb	98 _93rd
With an entire arsenal of new and old tricks of editing along with dazzling shots, F For Fake is a flawless work of celluloid and notorious in the masterful skill of modern meditation. Welles does something many others have died before him trying to do: he fooled the audience viewing it, making for a more understandable and fitting experience. Wonderous, quirky and also intriguing, F for Fake's legacy will go on forever and Welles has certainly shown what he's capable of.
2	hulot	100 _96th
watched: 2010, 2013, 2020
1	Moribunny	80 _91st
Shamelessly smarty but also genuinely thoughtful, intensive, hectically but meticulously edited documentary, it's very hard to take your eyes off it. It darts about between several different interconnected focal points, probably the most likable of which is the art forger Elmyr, but even Welles' own presence in it, an extravagant persona, stuck-up and self-important as ever, does not mar it one bit but rather complements it.
1	Carpetgiant	85 _64th
... just do anything? AHH "F for Fake" it has always been celebrated for its excellence there is a documentary by Orson Welles inspired by excellent frauds and forgers it's filmed in color and like the best Welles movies it's made so Orson Welles ... MAAHAA "F for Fake" has always been celebrated for its excellence there is a documentary by Orson Welles inspired by excellent frauds and forgers it's filmed in color and like the best Welles movies it's made so Orson Welles ...
1	PeaceAnarchy	79 _57th
Orson Welles fucking with your mind for a couple of hours. I really can't call it great because some parts feel too overindulgent and silly, but it's a unique film and very enjoyable.
1	twincinema	85 _85th
L for Looks. Orson Welles is serving looks in this. The first ten minutes feels like it was edited on amphetamines. I could listen Orson Welles read the phone book.
1	caiman	70 _37th
I recognize the greatness here: a master artist at the height of his craft; a whirlwind of ideas about art and deception; Welles hamming it up as only he can; a unique narrative voice highlighted by brilliant editing. Yes, I see all that. It's a great movie. But I just didn't like it that much. I wasn't interested in the particulars of the stories, nor did I find the overriding themes all that interesting. Rarely do I find a large gap between "greatness" and what "I liked." But here I did.
1	frederic_g54	9 _90th
With an extravaganza of clever editing tricks, some nice photography shots here and there, etc. Welles comes up with one of the most original ways of telling a story: fooling the audience. I still have no clue what's real and what's fake (I love that title :) ). A very interesting documentary.
1	sensei	75 _50th
It's very pretty... but is it art? The hell if I know.
1	meerkat	80 _51st
Very fascinating. It chronicles two intriguing stories while also showing some very interesting insights into human nature.
1	alexlma	8 _75th
Ao lado de Woody Allen e Hitchcock, Orson Welles foi um dos cineastas mais produtivos. Sempre com uma carta na mão, mudava com facilidade de um gênero para outro sempre sob uma chuva de críticas. Nesse 'documentário' um tanto irreal, Welles sai do verossímel através de histórias interessantes para passar a mensagem: "olhe como enganar e manipular é fácil, te peguei". Até ele mesmo vira alvo da sua própria fraude, citando Howard Hughes em 'Citizen Kane'.
1	JakeAesthete	96 _96th
A profound and endlessly inventive treatise on art and the elusive concept of "truth" and "authenticity", masterfully constructed (especially the editing!), which also happens to strike a particularly personal chord with me in regard to my own thoughts on these subjects that i am currently exploring in my own life.
1	Dean Franz	90 _89th
Like most of Welles' latter day films, this one is a messy, narcissistic, wonderful hodgepodge of ideas and in this case they either work in spades or are interesting enough, in one way or the other, to warrant screentime. Throughout the movies' many fine moments runs a palpable sense of joy at creating. This is Welles happy as a pig in shit, and we're right there with him, enjoying ourselves all the way.
1	janus	80 _77th
Very entertaining, if a little self-serving on Welles' part. Then again, if you're watching Welles, chances are you're ready for the ego. I wouldn't call it a documentary, more a cinematic essay on trickery and forgery. Frequent and sometimes jarring tangents into the psychology and human faces behind the topic give the film a breezy, conversational pace that feels much more natural than the business-like, didactic tone of most documentaries of the day.
1	ZayanK	93 _91st
This is a fake mini-review under a fake account.
1	wetwillies	80 _37th
Feels very smug and self-important. I don't know if I understood it. Maybe that's because it's too deep for one viewing, or maybe that's just Orson Welles fucking with me.
1	DougReese	100 _96th
"F for Fake" is one of the most intelligent documentaries out there, and it is all because of the brilliant mind behind it all. Orson Welles. Every moment of this mindblowing essay will either amuse, stun, or capture you - and the way Welles pieces together his studies is in a way that makes it border on the pure entertainment value of a solid fiction film. A one-of-a-kind, clever, and witty work of art.
1	payens	85 _79th
Brilliant editing! And the scene about Chartres is one of the most poignant I have ever seen about the human condition. It reminded me of Macbeth's speech "Tomorrow, tomorrow and tomorrow".
1	Deadmarsh	40 _5th
What a load of pointless crap.
1	Noblet	88 _91st
If you want to show someone the importance of editing, show them this film. Welles takes an art forgery story and makes something totally unique and fun to watch.
1	closedmouth	70 _41st
Late-period Welles just seems to give me a headache. The dubbing, the head-spinning editing. And he's so incredibly satisfied with himself that he never really gets the misdirection to work so I never felt like he tricked me at all. Yes Orson, I get that you're lying now. I noticed that you said an hour when the movie is longer than that. No, Oja isn't that attractive, but good job anyway. Still, it's pretty fun to watch, even if half the time I had no idea what he was talking about.
1	SlantMag	40 _97th
"F for Fake is one of the more wistfully humorous of Welles's wrestlings with reality." - Joshua Vasquez
1	alcyon	70 _68th
Expertly crafted film showcasing Welles' brilliance from start to finish. I really enjoyed it, but can't say I was that blown away by the trickery/movie-magic or the message. Somehow I felt it was a bit too smug, trying to be too clever. Didn't resonate with me as much as I hoped. As the smoke cleared substance and depth proved to be merely illusion.
1	karamazov.	65 _87th
Very unique film. Latter half is far less interesting, but, at its best, the visuals, editing, sound design-- everything-- is just immaculate and full of energy. Really extraordinary, in its own way, and very, very much worth seeing.
1	zmoats	92 _89th
Now Welles is dipping his toes in documentary filmmaking? Come on. He can't possibly be good at this too, right? Wrong. He is. He makes fantastic use of montage - which is somewhat abnormal for him - in this documentary about what it means for something or someone to be fake. How can you tell if something is fake? Hell, can you even tell? Also, Joseph Cotten makes a brief appearance, which made me happy, because his and Orson's friendship has that effect on me.

Average Percentile 71.08% from 1428 Ratings