The Imposter

Now here’s a film that’s going to be tricky to review, as the less you know about The Imposter the better. In fact, so determined was I to know so little about it before I watched it I didn’t even know it was a documentary based on a real life event. What a bizarre real life event it is though. To give you the basics, Bart Layton’s film concerns the 1997 case of Frenchman Frédéric Bourdin who impersonated the missing son of a Texan family. The film actually takes a while to get going. However, when the con is revealed you sit up and take notice at the implausibility of it. Things then get even more absurd as the story unravels. Told via the use of talking head interviews with most of the main participants, mixed with real life footage of the events along with reconstructions, Layton’s approach is to slowly drip more and more information into the story and it soon becomes one of the most thrilling films of 2012. It’s no surprise to read that this has picked up award after award across the world, made even more impressive by the fact this this is Layton’s first feature film. He does have a background in TV documentaries though (along with producer here, Dimitri Dogani) and this has clearly stood him in good stead as he knows how to approach this genre. Incidents and facts are put forward, you get both sides of the argument and Layton leaves it up to you to decide who is telling the truth. It’s riveting and, at times, jaw dropping stuff. Best of all though, is the appearance late on in the film of private investigator Charlie Parker. A character almost ripped from the pages of a pulp novel set in the deep south, his mannerisms and speech may cause chuckles, but whereas the police and FBI stumble around, he gets to the crux of the matter in days (in a fairly ingenious way as well). Layton tells the story as even handed as he can, but Bourdin’s charm means the sympathy seems to fall with him rather than the family. On that note, it really is hard to understand how the family not only fell for the scam in the first place, but also how they continued to be duped for so long. This is addressed in the film where Layton hints that darker matters were in play. In mitigation, the film does also suggest that when you’re so desperate to believe something is true you’re blinded to the reality of the situation and I guess when someone is in a vulnerable situation you’ll grasp hold of any glimmer of hope that you can. I read an article recently that was regarding books from the past that weren’t published as their concept seemed too far-fetched, only for the plot of said book to then happen in real life further down the line. It’s a good pointer to this film. You wouldn’t believe that it could happen, but it did.

The OC Film Sting Final Verdict

Entertaining, thrilling, frustrating and confusing. Stranger than fiction, indeed. Rating: 8/10.