This documentary includes extensive interviews with Guy Ribes, a French forger convinced of the value of his work. Ribes explains that in analyzing a potential forgery, experts consider the soul of the artwork rather than the subject, so the feeling a painting contains says more about who made it than its content. He describes his initial success as amusing due to the surprising and somewhat ridiculous trickery and personal satisfaction he derives from it. Information on his background and enlightening details about his early life lead to details and secrets of his process (we see him sketching a Picasso). Explaining these technical tricks validates the forger’s expertise.
The film also discusses Ribes’s trial and how he figured out how to get away with the same crimes after his sentence, by simply dating the works to earlier: “you understand the power I had, now?” With this power as artist, Ribes distinguishes his job from that of a dealer who may be involved in forgery, or even a thief. In the conversations we hear Ribes explaining that a private collection is an opportunity for more fakes and that art connoisseurs believe that “the fakes lower the value of the real works.” Notably, many works are not shown in the film because still believed to be originals.
By Molly George