It is also possible that the narrative of reform and stability is itself a performance designed for an audience.

The truth about Frédéric Bourdin is, in the end, something that only Frédéric Bourdin can know — and he is not a reliable witness to his own interiority.

The Question Of What “Fooled” Means

There is a version of this story in which Bourdin fooled everyone — in which the FBI was duped, the family was deceived, and the social service systems were conned — and this is the version that appears in most popular accounts.

There is another version in which what happened is more complicated.