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List Price: $39.95Amazon.com's Price: $18.99 You Save: $20.96 (52%)Prices subject to change.
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Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 9780780030022
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Special Edition, Widescreen, NTSC
ISBN: 0780030028
Label: Criterion
Manufacturer: Criterion
Number Of Items: 2
Publisher: Criterion
Region Code: 1
Release Date: April 26, 2005
Running Time: 88 minutes
Sales Rank: 3041
Studio: Criterion
Theatrical Release Date: 1973
Editorial Review:
Description:
Trickery. Deceit. Magic. In Orson Welles' free-form documentary, the legendary filmmaker (and self-described charlatan) gleefully engages the central preoccupation of his career-the tenuous line between truth and illusion, art and lies. Beginning with portraits of world-renowned art forger Elmyr de Hory and his equally devious biographer, Clifford Irving, Welles goes on a dizzying cinematic journey that simultaneously exposes and revels in fakery and fakers of all stripes-not the least of which is Welles himself. Charming and poignant, F for Fake is an inspired prank and a searching examination of the essential duplicity of cinema. Criterion's two-disc DVD edition also features an introduction by Peter Bogdanovich, audio commentary by director of photography Gary Graver, an hour long documentary on Welles' unfinished projects, a documentary on the life and works of de Hory, and the theatrical trailer.
Amazon.com:
To call Orson Welles's F For Fake a documentary would be somewhat deceitful, but deceit itself is very much the subject of this curious film essay. Welles ruminates on the nature of artistic fakery through two examples, that of infamous art forger Elmyr de Hory and the writer Clifford Irving, whose bogus autobiography of Howard Hughes set off a minor media flurry in the 1970s. Postmodernist that he is, Wells then proceeds to narrate and edit the film in such a perversely frenetic way as to blur the lines between what is real and what is deception, making for an often confusing but engaging work of art in itself. We even see the footage we've been watching as it's being spliced together in Welles's editing room. The specter of Welles's often maligned later career hangs over the proceedings like a challenge--is he going to actually complete this strange movie about chicanery, or will it become one of the many unfinished experiments of his twilight years? Happily, Welles concludes the proceedings with a delightful sequence about Picasso, lust, and what constitutes real art. F For Fake is a fine example of a master filmmaker who had at least a couple tricks left up his sleeve. --Ryan Boudinot
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - F for feat!
The first sequence if the film shows us one the most alluring women ever existed: Oja Kodar, and through these traveling, the eye-camera invites us to participate with Welles through a particular journey: the fake.
The inextinguishable genius of Orson Welles is carved once more in relief through this admirable of two well known fakers , Elmyr and Irving. As it's well know, Elmyr was regarded the most astute, fine and intelligent artist of the falsification, his immense skills as painter ... Read More
Rating: - A Cinematic Juggling Act
His last major work as a filmmaker, Orson Welles' "F for Fake" (1973) survives as a rough-edged yet provocative essay on the art of fraud. In this instance, we have three noted subjects: art forger extraordinaire Elmyr de Hory, Clifford Irving (the novelist who conned the world as Howard Hughes' "authorized biographer") and Welles himself. Editing plays a vital role as the Great Orson maintains his semi-documentary juggling act for 90 minutes. Fittingly enough, "F for Fake" reveals more about the creator ... Read More
Rating: - The Twilight Years of A Film-making Prodigy
NOTE: This is a review for the documentary 'Orson Welles - The One Man Band', which is included as a second-disk feature on this product. This is not a review of the film 'F For Fake'.
When a person slowly disappears, nobody seems to notice. This is probably what happened to Orson Welles when his film career stumbled into a downhill slope. The man who was arguably the most brilliant filmmaker to emerge on the American scene, ended up doing narration, wine commercials, and magic shows. He died ... Read More
Rating:  - F is for Fake Falls Flat
It's an Orson Welles film about world-class fakery with profiles of the great Hungarian art forger, Emlyr, and the dopey author of a hoax biography of Howard Hughes, Clifford Irving. Both jokers ended up in Time magazine as well as in jail. Much of it is filmed on the once-enchanting island of Ibiza (it's now something like an Iberian Club Med party destination - "let's go club-ing!") Directed and tediously edited (for years apparently) by Welles, this film is slow and self-indulgent and is not representative ... Read More
Rating: - A must-have for any "artist" or Welles fan
Most movies that I like are in the "not for everyone" category, and since this is one of my favorite films, that caveat is especially appropriate.
F for Fake is an intellectually challenging film that really requires its viewer to pay attention and follow multiple interweaved plots. Actually, "plot" isn't the right word here: the film explores the theme of "what is real?" (as well as "what is art?") using several real-life examples: notorious art forger Elmyr, and author Cliff Irving (whose Howard Hughes ... Read More
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