Orson Welles’ Most Misunderstood Film: A Creative Gamble
Orson Welles once called the backlash to his bold documentary F for Fake “the tragedy of my life.” Years later, the film’s daring style and originality would earn it a place among his greatest works.
Few directors have ever copped as much pressure as Orson Welles. After bursting onto the scene with his first feature, Citizen Kane, he was instantly labelled a genius, and the film itself was hailed as a landmark. That sort of early success can be a double-edged sword, though. Everything Welles did after that was measured against his debut, and punters were quick to call anything less than a masterpiece a letdown.
Welles spent years trying to win over critics who seemed determined to take the mickey out of his later projects. He took the criticism to heart, especially when it came to his offbeat documentary, F for Fake. In a chat with Peter Biskind for My Lunches with Orson: Conversations Between Henry Jaglom and Orson Welles, he described the chilly reception to the film as “the tragedy of my life”.
Breaking the Mould
Welles reckoned F for Fake was the only truly original thing he’d made since Kane.
I think, F for Fake is the only really original movie I’ve made since Kane,
he said, adding,
You see, everything else is only carrying movies a little further along the same path. I believe that the movies, I’ll say a terrible thing, have never gone beyond Kane. That doesn’t mean that there haven’t been good movies, or great movies. But everything has been done now in movies, to the point of fatigue.
This documentary was a real departure for Welles. He mixed up real-life footage with staged scenes and even popped up himself to deliver cheeky interludes. The film’s style was so different that it left some of his peers green with envy, but it didn’t exactly set the box office alight. Unlike Citizen Kane, F for Fake wasn’t a commercial hit, and the critics weren’t shy about saying so.
Personal Stakes and Artistic Risks
Despite the backlash, Welles poured heaps of effort into the project. He was keen for the film to push the boundaries of what cinema could do, hoping it might inspire other directors to take a few risks of their own.
You can do it better, but it’s always gonna be the same grammar, you know?
he mused, before noting,
Every artistic form, the blank-verse drama, the Greek plays, the novel, has only so many possibilities and only so long a life, and I have a feeling that in movies, until we break completely, we are only increasing the library of good works. I know that as a director of movie actors in front of the camera, I have nowhere to move forward. I can only make another good work.
For Welles, F for Fake was more than just another gig. He’d invested a lot of himself in the film, both creatively and emotionally. It was one of the last projects he managed to finish, as many of his later efforts stalled due to lack of cash.
Legacy and Changing Opinions
After F for Fake, Welles did release Filming Othello, a documentary about his own Shakespeare adaptation. His final narrative feature, The Other Side of the Wind, didn’t see the light of day until long after he’d passed away, only getting completed thanks to a dedicated restoration effort.
While F for Fake was panned at first, over time it’s come to be seen as another Welles masterstroke. By the time The Other Side of the Wind finally dropped on Netflix, critics had clearly learned a thing or two, giving Welles’ swan song a much warmer welcome.