Movie · 2025 · Thriller, Crime, Drama · 1h 50m · R · IT
Curator score: 3.5/10 (16K ratings)
Overview
Toni Chichiarelli arrives in Rome with the dream of becoming a painter, but his talent leads him elsewhere — from art galleries to state secrets. Between art, crime, and power, his signature ends up everywhere — even in the history of Italy.
Ratings
Curator score: 3.5/10
IMDb: 6.6/10
Letterboxd: 3.21/5
TMDB: 6.6/10
Director
Stefano Lodovichi
Production
Cattleya
Cast
Pietro Castellitto, Giulia Michelini, Andrea Arcangeli, Pierluigi Gigante, Aurora Giovinazzo, Edoardo Pesce, Claudio Santamaria, Fabrizio Ferracane, Francesco La Mantia, Mauro Aversano, Michael Schermi, Giacomo Bottoni, Kabir Tavani, Carlo Tozzi, Mattia Carrano
Where to watch
Netflix, Netflix Standard with Ads
Curator Review
Verdict
A stylish Italian crime-drama with a compelling real-life premise, but the execution sounds uneven and overcompressed. The film seems strongest as a mood piece about art, fraud, and power, while the storytelling may feel rushed or underdeveloped.
Best for
Viewers interested in Italian political crime stories
Fans of glossy, atmospheric thrillers
Audiences drawn to true-story-adjacent underworld dramas
People who can forgive narrative shortcuts for strong visuals
Skip if
You want tightly structured, fully developed character drama
You dislike rushed plotting or TV-movie pacing
You prefer crime films with a harder edge and cleaner payoff
You are looking for a deeply immersive historical reconstruction
Overview
The Big Fake has a premise that practically begs for a sharp, sprawling crime saga: an artist drifting into forgery, secrets, and the machinery of power in Rome. That setup gives the film a natural blend of cultural intrigue and political menace, and the response suggests it often looks the part, with polished visuals and a strong sense of style.
Worth noting
What holds it back is structure. The film appears to move faster than its ideas can comfortably support, leaving character work and emotional escalation feeling abbreviated. It sounds less like a fully satisfying feature than a condensed version of a richer miniseries concept.
Bottom line
Even so, there is enough texture here to make it worth a cautious recommendation, especially for viewers who enjoy Italian crime cinema with a historical sheen. If you come for atmosphere, corruption, and the uneasy overlap between art and criminality, it should deliver at least part of the promise.
Top Letterboxd reviews
zoeck (4★) · 254 likes
Another hot priest
nikolozi (2.5★) · 206 likes
The Big Fake feels like an idea made for a TV series, not a movie. Everything is rushed the first act, the character development, even the emotional beats. You can understand what the director wanted to say, but the writing is too weak to make it land. It looks fine in that familiar Netflix way, but good visuals can’t save messy storytelling. A poor film with a potentially good idea behind it.
Krystal (4★) · 184 likes
I hope that Pietro Castellito's nose was also a paid actor due its spectacular performence
Chiara Bardella (3★) · 178 likes
La tensione omoerotica tra due interisti
veik (3.5★) · 174 likes
they should've spent more time outside cause them shots were beautiful