Orson Welles' Bold Documentary That Critics Initially Destroyed

Few Hollywood legends faced the crushing weight of expectations like Orson Welles did throughout his career. After creating Citizen Kane, widely hailed as cinema's greatest achievement, Welles found himself trapped by his own success. Every subsequent project would inevitably be measured against that towering masterpiece, leaving critics and audiences perpetually disappointed.

The pressure took its toll on Welles, who often internalized harsh reviews of his later works. During conversations with Peter Biskind for My Lunches with Orson: Conversations Between Henry Jaglom and Orson Welles, the director revealed just how deeply one particular film's reception wounded him.

A Revolutionary Approach to Documentary Filmmaking

Welles poured his creative energy into F for Fake, an unconventional documentary that blended reality with staged sequences and featured the director himself providing commentary throughout. This experimental approach represented a dramatic departure from traditional filmmaking methods, combining documentary footage with fictional elements in ways that hadn't been attempted before.

"I think F for Fake is the only really original movie I've made since Kane," Welles explained, adding his belief that cinema had stagnated since his debut masterpiece. "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."

The Personal Cost of Innovation

Despite Welles' conviction about the film's originality, critics savaged F for Fake upon its release. The negative response hit the filmmaker particularly hard, leading him to describe it as "the tragedy of my life." This wasn't simply professional disappointment – Welles had invested deeply in the project, hoping it would push cinema forward and inspire other directors to experiment with new forms of storytelling.

The director believed that film as an art form had reached its limits within conventional structures. "Every artistic form, the blank-verse drama, the Greek plays, the novel, has only so many possibilities and only so long a life," he observed. "I have a feeling that in movies, until we break completely, we are only increasing the library of good works."

Legacy of a Misunderstood Masterpiece

F for Fake became one of Welles' final completed projects, as financial constraints prevented him from finishing many subsequent films. His last narrative feature, The Other Side of the Wind, remained incomplete until decades after his death, when restoration efforts finally brought it to Netflix.

Time proved Welles right about F for Fake's significance. Critics eventually recognized the documentary as another masterpiece, appreciating its bold experimentation and innovative approach to filmmaking. By the time The Other Side of the Wind finally reached audiences, the film community had learned to appreciate Welles' unconventional vision, greeting his posthumous release with the respect it deserved.