The Wizard of Lies

Bernie Madoff's arrest and the collapse that followed. The film is as much about what the family knew, or chose not to know, as about the mechanics of the crime. Barry Levinson directed. Robert De Niro plays Madoff and Michelle Pfeiffer plays his wife Ruth. It is their fourth film together and their first for television. The source is Diana B. Henriques's 2011 book of the same name. Henriques appears in the film as herself, bridging the documentary record and the dramatisation directly. It was made for HBO and released in 2017. The premiere drew 1.5 million viewers, rising to 2.4 million across the weekend with replays. Rotten Tomatoes sits at 73 percent, with critics writing that the direction and casting keep it consistently watchable. It took Emmy nominations for Outstanding Television Movie and in the acting categories, won the Critics' Choice Award for Best Movie Made for Television and drew recognition at the Satellite Awards. Who it is for: viewers who like financial crime stories and want to watch De Niro. Who it is not for: anyone hoping to learn how a Ponzi scheme works. The film is interested in the consequences, not the machinery.