The Character Of Frédéric Bourdin

Any honest portrait of Frédéric Bourdin has to grapple with the difficulty of understanding a person who is, by documented history, an extraordinarily skilled liar.

Everything Bourdin says about himself — his motivations, his childhood, his feelings, his current circumstances — is filtered through a personality that has spent decades constructing false narratives and using them to manipulate people.

He is aware of this, in his more lucid moments, and has acknowledged that his own account of himself cannot be simply trusted.

And yet.