The Hoax (2006)
(In French, On TV, April 2020) Howard Hughes’ life is expansive and fascinating enough that several movies can be made about him without necessarily stepping on each other’s topics. The Hoax is Hughes-centric without even featuring Hughes himself, as it’s about the efforts of writer Clifford Irving to create a wholly fictional Hughes autobiography and being richly rewarded for it. Richard Gere comfortably stars as Wallace, a writer who turns conman when he thinks he can get away with it. It all goes swimmingly until Hughes himself emerges from his late-life silence to shut down all speculation that he wrote the book, kill the book’s publication along the way and send Irving to prison. (Amusingly enough, you can now purchase Clifford’s Hughes “autobiography” as an ebook.) Con stories are at their best with chutzpah and this one has a lot of it. Well-constructed and generally executed with style, The Hoax fills the gaps of its narrative with early-1970s pop music, snappy editing and a sustained rhythm. In an era where truth is devalued, I would normally have issues with making a hero out of a serial liar, except for one thing: The Hoax does not present the real story. It adds layers of conspiratorial and political intrigues that are far-fetched at best—so much so that Irving himself (who died in 2017) expressed his strong disapproval at this fictitious portrayal of his life, much like Hugues himself did to bring down the charade. The irony is so delicious that it must be savoured. What we’re left with is a film that, like Irving, doesn’t know when to quit—The Hoax could have been a perfectly charming comedy about a lie spinning out of control, but then it reaches for a darker third act filled with government conspiracies and evermore ludicrous speculations. Too bad—but it’s still generally worth a look, if only as an introduction to both Hughes and Irving.
