The Imposter

In 1994, 13-year-old Nicholas Barclay disappeared without a trace from his home in San Antonio, Texas. When Spanish police pick up a man with the same name some three and a half years later, it’s clear to his American family that the traumatised young man must be their son – even if his outward appearance bears little resemblance to Nicholas. And so the lost offspring returns to his parents. However, the FBI agent in charge of the case is sceptical about this wonderful twist of fate... A man of French-Algerian origin with the identity of a blond young man from Texas? THE IMPOSTER documents an almost unbelievable deception. Filmmaker Bart Layton consolidates statements made by identity thief Frederic Bourdin, interviews with those involved and visualised dream-like flashbacks to create a mystery-thriller where the line between documentary and fiction is indistinct, and truth and lies increasingly entwined.