The Big Fake (Original title: Il falsario, 2026) is an Italian crime drama on Netflix set in 1970s Rome. The story follows Toni Chichiarelli, a young artist who arrives in the city dreaming of making his name as a painter. Instead of finding success with his own work, Toni quickly discovers he has a rare gift for making perfect copies of famous paintings and signatures. This skill draws him into the city’s underground world of forgery, crime, politics, and hidden power structures. Rome in The Big Fake is not just a backdrop; it’s a place where artists, priests, radicals, criminals, and political forces all push and pull on one another, and Toni has to choose where he stands, if anywhere. Over time, he makes decisions not because he believes in any ideology, but because they help him live well, and eventually those choices shape his fate.
The movie explores ambition, moral blindness, loyalty, and how easily talent can be used for deception. Toni’s story runs from anonymity to being deeply embedded in a dangerous network of political manipulation and criminal enterprise. This article will walk through how The Big Fake ends, explain the key turning points in the final act, and show what the ending means for Toni and the power structures around him.
Major spoilers ahead.
The Big Fake (2026) ‘Netflix’ Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:
Does Toni’s talent make him free?
Toni arrives in Rome with his two childhood friends, Vittorio and Fabione, seeking a better life. Vittorio is a priest, devout and cautious, and Fabione is a worker who drifts into far-left politics. Toni, meanwhile, tries to make a living as a street artist. He sketches portraits for pay, but his own creative work goes unnoticed. The city seems too big, too crowded with talent, and too indifferent to give him a break.
Everything changes when Toni meets Donata, an art dealer. Donata is drawn to a convincing imitation Toni has of a famous painting — even though it is a fake. She sees potential where others saw nothing, and she offers to help him sell fakes as if they were originals. Together, Toni and Donata begin forging signatures and paintings for sale. Soon enough, their forged art draws attention and money flows in. Donata and Toni also become romantically involved, blurring the lines between work and personal life.
Does the easy money change Toni?
Money and connections pull Toni deeper into Rome’s underground. Through Donata, he meets Balbo, a criminal who orchestrates robberies and operates in the city’s underworld. Toni starts doing odd forgery jobs for Balbo, including forging passports. These jobs supplement the art forgery business and quickly escalate Toni’s involvement with crime. As Toni’s success grows, he moves into a nicer home with Donata and gets help from Balbo to open a gallery space. But even that space becomes the site of a murder, showing how close Toni has come to danger.
Meanwhile, Toni’s friends take different paths. Vittorio remains committed to his spiritual life and tries to stay distant from Toni’s schemes. Fabione, on the other hand, becomes involved with the Red Brigades, a militant political group. He plans and participates in a robbery meant to serve the cause, dragging Toni into political violence. Balbo has ties to opposing factions, making Toni an unwitting link between criminal and political worlds.
When the Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro is kidnapped by the Red Brigades, Toni is asked to forge fake communications from the group. He accepts. To Toni, this is another job — not ideology, just survival. But once he agrees to work on political propaganda, safety begins to slip further out of reach. Balbo introduces Toni to a mysterious figure called the Tailor, who wants Toni to forge highly sensitive documents. Things start to go wrong. Balbo dies in a suspicious car accident, Fabione disappears, and the Tailor begins to pressure Toni directly.
Does loyalty exist in Rome?
Soon after, Toni is brutally attacked by masked men who break his hands to prevent him from painting again. The attack makes it clear that his life in Rome is no longer sustainable. Toni plans a big heist to get money and escape the city with Donata, who is pregnant. With help from an old contact, Zu Pippo, Toni robs a warehouse full of cash. He arranges the theft to look like the work of the Red Brigades so that suspicion remains elsewhere. This gives him a way out — or so he thinks.
The memoir of Aldo Moro becomes central. The politician had written a memoir while kidnapped, and that book is valuable because it contains information powerful groups want. Toni has the memoir, first given by Fabione before he dies. He hides it in a safe place provided by Vittorio. Toni believes that holding the memoir gives him leverage and protection long enough to escape the city. But trust is fragile.
The Big Fake (2026) ‘Netflix’ Movie Ending Explained:
Where does Toni Chichiarelli end up?
As Toni prepares to flee Rome with money from the heist and Donata and their unborn child, his plan collapses. Vittorio, his friend and priest, betrays him. Vittorio had lost faith in his own simple life after seeing Toni’s glamour and success. He had secretly used Church funds for personal gain, hoping to become a monsignor, but the position was given to someone else. In his hurt and envy, Vittorio gives the Tailor the location of Toni’s hidden memoir. The memoir falls into the Tailor’s hands.
With the memoir secured, the Tailor’s shadowy network can control political narratives and eliminate threats. Toni is back in danger, this time from the very thing he once thought would save him. Toni survives, but it becomes clear that living and meaning are not the same. Donata had come back into his life, but his emotional connections have eroded. He is left hollow, with success in forgery but no real identity or purpose.
The movie ends without a big confrontation or punishment. Toni is alive, but stripped of the things that once gave him confidence. His work is everywhere — shaping narratives, influencing outcomes, and altering political landscapes — yet no one remembers Toni himself. He becomes a ghost behind signatures, unseen and unremembered. The film’s message is that when everything can be copied perfectly, originality loses power, and so does the person behind it.
Toni’s relationships also reflect this false satisfaction. Donata believed in his ability, but their partnership was one of convenience and seduction, not deep emotional connection. Fabione’s political goals collapse into death and disappearance. And Vittorio’s betrayal shows that even old bonds can dissolve when personal gain overshadows loyalty. The ending is not traditionally tragic, but it is quietly bleak — Toni has survived, but he has nothing real left to claim.
