Updated with new Penman collages
A new Italian historical drama (“Il falsario”) that dives deep into the world of art, deception, and power.
The film tells the story of Toni Chichiarelli, a man whose love for painting takes an unexpected turn into the dark world of forgery and crime. Toni arrives in Rome with dreams of becoming a true artist. But his rare talent soon draws attention for all the wrong reasons. Instead of fame from galleries and exhibitions, he becomes known for something much riskier, creating fake works that blur the line between art and fraud. As his skills grow, Toni’s influence spreads beyond the art world.
If you believe the film, Toni Chichiarelli was involved in every major headline in Italy in the 1970s, from grandiose heists to the Aldo Moro kidnapping. He worked for himself, the crime families, the extreme right, the extreme left, his friends, the government – anybody who needed a forged painting, forged letters, forged documents. You name it; he’d fake it.
I had never heard of him before I watched this Netflix film, but it appears that just about everything in the film is true except the ending, which I won’t spoil for you.
Wikipedia says:
He was identified as the author of one of the most sensational episodes of misdirection in Italian history, as well as the author of the so-called “robbery of the century” to the detriment of Brink’s Company.
The five trials of the Moro Case have established that it was he who prepared the false communiqué number seven (“The communiqué of the Lago della Duchessa”), pretending that it had been drawn up by the Red Brigades during the 55 days of the kidnapping, but it was never established who commissioned it from him.
His acquaintances ranged from neo-fascist extremism, to leading figures of the Italian underworld, through paramilitary organisations.
On September 28, 1984, he was killed in an ambush near his home in the Talenti district of Rome.
Unfortunately, there is almost no nudity, which is a shame because the story portrays him as an insatiable horndog.
The video also shows Aurora in a nearly transparent shirt.