WHO IS CLARK ROCKEFELLER?

US, 2010, 95 minutes. Colour.
Eric Mc Cormack, Sherry Stringfield, Emily Alyn Lind, Stephen Mc Hattie, Regina Taylor, Art Hindle.
Directed by Mikael Salomon.

Who is Clark Rockefeller is based on actual events, an FBI investigation of a conman who came to the United States in the 1970s, impersonated a great number of people, eventually claimed to be a Rockefeller but separated from his family. He was a man of charm, with an artificial smile. He fell in love with a lawyer, played by Sherry Stringfield, married her, had a daughter, but she gradually realised that she was supporting him, that he was making up stories about himself and his work. After the divorce, she was able to get custody of her daughter – but her husband abducted her. The abduction is the framework for the film with many flashbacks filling in the background, establishing the character of Clark Rockefeller as well as of Sandra Boss, his wife. It emerges that he was German, came to the United States, conned families and lived with them, established himself with a couple and seems to have murdered them and buried them in the front garden. He worked allegedly for the Pentagon, on television, attempting to be an actor.

Eric Mc Cormack puts on an artificial face and smile to make a smoothly persuasive Clark Rockefeller. Sherry Stringfield offers an interesting performance as his distraught wife. Regina Taylor is very strong as the agent in charge of the abduction investigation.

The film was directed by Mikael Salomon, a Danish cinematographer in Denmark and in the United States. He moved into direction in the early 1990s with A Far- Off Place and Hard Rain. However, his career has been mainly in television.

This is a Lifetime television movie.

1. Audience interest in stories like this? Conmen and frauds? Exposure? The mystery? The human drama?

2. The affluent backgrounds, the alleged Rockefeller connections? New York, Boston, the countryside? Mansions? The cities? The abduction and the time in Baltimore, the marina? High society and functions? Workplaces? Musical score? An authentic atmosphere?

3. The focus on Sandra Boss, her life, work, her parents? Her encounter with Clark? The friendship, the charm, the relationship, the proposal, the marriage? Her believing him? Not making inquiries? His plausible answer for everything? The changes, his staying at home as a carer, spending money irresponsibly? Her working full-time, her promotions? Her exasperation? Pregnancy, the birth of the child, care for the child? The lies continuing, her discovery of the truth? Her lawyer’s advice? The divorce, the confrontation about the custody? The money deal? Allowing Clark to see the child? His taking the child, the abduction? The character of Sandra Boss? Her explanations to the agent, discussions, the gradual revelation of her knowing the truth but keeping it quiet? The blow to her pride, falling for such a fraud?

4. Clark Rockefeller, the flashbacks to his coming to America, the German, with the friend that he met, imposing himself, watching television, taking over? The couple, his friendship, their disappearance, the digging in the front garden? His TV career? His further claims? Becoming a Rockefeller, the paintings, his social life, with Sandra? The courtship, the marriage? The pregnancy? His staying at home, spending the money, his plausible answers for everything? The alienation from Sandra, his powers of persuasion? His anger at the confrontation about custody? His having to admit the truth? His picking up Snooks? Taking her away, hiding, cutting her hair, their life together, on the boat?

5. Sandra and the investigation, the officer in charge and her assistant? Tough minded, interrogations? The preparation for the television plea? The tone at the opening of the film? The investigations, the lack of documentation? People phoning in, the student from the 1960s? The gradual build-up of the picture, the fingerprints? Trying to track Clark down? The lead from the marina? The preparation for arresting him, his being called to the marina, leaving Snooks? His final arrest?

6. Unrepentant, his excusing himself? In prison? - and the possibility of arraignment for murder?

7. Audience interest? The characters? The seemingly impossible situations? The perpetration of fraud? The conman being unmasked?