Republished from the show notes of my other site, Fuds on Film.
Die Fälschung of course being German for The Fälschung. It’s more commonly known in the English speaking world as Circle of Deceit, but more on that later.
Journalist Georg Laschen (Bruno Ganz) is at a strange point in his marriage. Well, probably. Being a German, it’s tough to know exactly what passes for normal in a relationship, but let’s say our introduction to him, initiating a spot of the ol’ in out with his wife in front of his bejawdropped child, is certainly a challenging one for conventional morality.
Amidst a tumult of arguments and make-up sex, Georg leaves to cover the on-going civil war in the stricken city of Beirut. Meeting up with his fellow reporters and photographer Hoffman (Jerzy Skolimowski) in the least bombed out hotel currently available, he sets about covering the various opportunities for human misery that what turned out to be a 15 year civil war can provide.
While all this is going on we unveil more of Georg’s character, and his largely cynical thoughts turn to the coverage of the war itself. While it seems that he’s more inclined to support one side over the other, continued exposure to both puts paid to any narrative of any side being the good guys.
The fighting largely takes place during the night, although Georg finds something to do during the day, reconnecting with Ariane Nassar (Hanna Schygulla), part of the now-closed German embassy staff that’s chosen to stay behind. They begin, or rather resume, an affair, with Georg starting to think that he could make a life with Ariane. Ariane, however, is more concerned with having a baby, and as her previous marriage did not provide them, she’s hopeful he can buy one from an orphanage.
It’s not the most joyous of films, naturally, what with all the death, cynicism and moral ambiguity. Indeed, while Georg does at least get out alive, his head’s no clearer than it was at the start of the film, and I can’t help but think that Georg’s fate after the credits roll is an early death at the bottom of a bottle.
This film must, I suppose, get a few brownie points for actually filming in Beiruit, slap bang in the middle of the war it’s set in – apparently in the “safer” areas of the city, although that’s very much a relative term. Top marks for dedication to the cast and crew, which produces some highly authentic feeling scenes as Georg experiences the conflict first hand – although he would be advised to play a few more cover-based third person shooter video games as training, as he’s a bit wander-aimlessly-through-live-fire-y, which I’m fairly sure is counter-indicated in war zone scenarios.
Director Volker Schlöndorff is certainly unflinching in his examinations, whether that’s of the horrendous results that conflict produces, or his lead character. Georg’s not a particularly likeable guy, and there’s little attempt made to excuse or explain his actions, or thoughts. It may be a glitch in translation, but there’s evidence that Georg’s trying to fool himself about his own character – in the space of a few sentences, he goes from saying how he must report the truth, to saying how he must sex it up to ensure that it sells newspapers. That may, perhaps, be some lost irony – my German’s not strong enough to distinguish, but Georg lying to himself – and perhaps the audience – about his character.
Which perhaps ties in to the original title . Circle of Deceit implies a journalist investigating some external deceit, and I suppose if you squint at it and apply the deceit as coming from Georg, that might work. But Die Fälschung seems much more fitting – the closest translation I can hit on is The Faker, or perhaps The Counterfeiter if you’re being all formal. That fits Georg much better, although, perhaps more through fake emotions than fake news.
It’s a bold move to give us so little background or information about what’s truly at the heat of Georg’s motivations and character, but one I’m not sure that pays off. It’s also not doing all that much to tell us about the war itself, leaving that mainly as an extended metaphor for Georg’s psyche knocking lumps out of itself.
Nominally we’re here to compare this to Salvador, and there’s certainly a through line there, both in the nature of the protagonists and the horrors of the events. But Salvador seems to want to wander between being a documentary of the situation as much as a character study, whereas Die Fälschung takes a much higher level view of the nature of war, and the nature of humanity. In that respect, it reminds me more of Entranced Earth than Salvador, albeit without the dollops of crazy that Entranced Earth brought to the table and rolled about in, while eating the tablecloth.
So, quite the morality play, then, but is it any good? Well, I guess? I’ve no real complaints with the acting, with Bruno Ganz putting in a great performance as an unlikable character. Of course, in general, being so focused on an unlikable character makes it quite hard to like the film, as so goes it with Die Fälschung. It’s one of those films that’s good, but in no way enjoyable, and so very hard to unabashedly recommend. So, come, child, feast on this misery and be nourished by your cinematic tears. Take it as a downer when there’s too much saccharine around.