f for fake truly is an oddity. prior to seeing the film i had often wondered what it actually was. given what i knew about orson welles, and the way his work was heading towards the mid 70's i was expecting a video essay of sorts, something along the lines of jean-luc godard's ''l'histoires du cinema" (1989), and while i wasnt exactly correct in my assumptions, i wasnt exactly wrong either. welles' himself, both in the press for the film and the picture itself, proclaims f for fake to be "a new kind of movie".
the "film" tells the story of elmyr de hory, the famous hungarian art forger, and uses de hory's story as a means to explore the idea of the truth. in doing so the film explores the myth of howard hughes, the author clifford irving (whose questionable autobiographies connect both de hory and hughes) and welles himself, when the famous 'war of the worlds' period is examined.
f for fake is considered to be welles final complete film, despite being released 11 years before his death. the film was recieved terribly in the united states, perhaps due to the ambiguous nature of the film when looked at from the outside, but great appreciation was recieved from europe, which by this point had become welles' spiritual home artistically.
viewed initially as a look at avante-garde and unique editing (an area of exploration for myself at the moment) i found the film to be a great success. thirty years on it may not be as unique as the day it was originally released, but it remains a charming and interesting film, and one that stays in the mind long after the credits have rolled (a cliche exclamation no doubt, but for a film as unique as f for fake i have no qualms in using it).
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