The new Netflix movie The Big Fake has viewers talking. Many are asking what exactly happens at the end to the main character, Toni Chichiarelli. The Italian crime drama ends with a final, shocking choice that defines Toni’s entire journey from hopeful artist to a man willing to sacrifice everything for survival.
Toni arrives in Rome with his two best friends, Vittorio and Fabione, hoping to build a new life. Toni is an artist, but his true talent is not creating original work. He has a rare skill for making perfect copies of famous paintings and signatures. This ability pulls him into a dangerous world of art forgery and crime in 1970s Rome, a city full of political tension.
How Toni Builds a Life on Lies
Toni meets an art dealer named Donata. She sees the value in his forgeries and helps him sell fake art as if it were real. They start a romantic relationship and become business partners. Through Donata, Toni meets a local gangster named Balbo, who gives him jobs forging passports and documents.
Toni’s life becomes a web of lies connecting different parts of Rome’s underworld. His friend Fabione gets involved with the far-left Red Brigades, a militant political group. When the Red Brigades kidnap the Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro, everything changes. A mysterious government agent known only as the Tailor forces Toni to use his skills for political manipulation. Toni must forge fake Red Brigade communications, getting him deeply involved in a national crisis.
Toni’s attitude is clear when asked which political side he supports. He says, “I don’t give a f**k about colors. I’m for whoever helps me live well.”
The Plan to Escape Everything
The situation becomes deadly. Balbo is killed in a suspicious car accident. Fabione disappears and is later found dead. The Tailor’s men attack Toni and brutally break his hands to stop him from painting. Toni realizes he must escape Rome to survive.
He comes up with a complex plan. First, he needs money. He organizes a major heist, robbing a cash-filled warehouse with the help of old contacts. He makes the robbery look like it was done by the Red Brigades to throw off suspicion. Second, he needs leverage to stay alive long enough to get away. Fabione had given him a crucial item before he died: Aldo Moro’s memoir, a book written by the kidnapped politician. The memoir is so politically explosive that Toni believes possessing it will protect him from the Tailor.
Toni hides the memoir in a safe place—a safe belonging to his last remaining friend, the priest Vittorio. Donata is now pregnant with Toni’s child, giving him another urgent reason to secure their future.
The Final Betrayal and Toni’s Choice
Just as Toni is ready to flee, his plan falls apart. Vittorio, his oldest friend, betrays him. The Tailor blackmails Vittorio, threatening to expose how he misused church funds for personal gain. In return for his silence and a promise of promotion within the Church, Vittorio gives the Tailor the location of Moro’s memoir.
With the memoir gone, Toni has no protection. The Tailor sends a hitman named Sansiro to kill him. In a twist, Sansiro is someone Toni once helped by forging a passport. Because of this old favor, Sansiro offers Toni a cruel choice.
Sansiro must deliver a body to the Tailor. He tells Toni he can either sacrifice himself or give up someone else. Toni knows Vittorio is the one who betrayed him. He also knows that he and Vittorio look somewhat alike. This gives him a terrible idea.
Toni leaves a note and car keys for Vittorio, pretending it is a farewell gift. When Vittorio gets into the car, Sansiro is waiting and kills him. Vittorio’s body will be presented as Toni’s, allowing the real Toni to disappear. Toni then meets Donata at a taxi, and they leave Italy for good.
Donata senses from Toni’s silence what he has done, but they do not speak of it. The film ends with them escaping, but at the ultimate cost.
What the Ending Means for Toni’s Character
The ending shows that Toni has completely lost his moral compass. He began as an artist seeking recognition but became a man who treats people as tools to be used and discarded. His final act is the ultimate forgery: he fakes his own death using his friend’s body.
The movie suggests Toni survives but is left emotionally hollow. His talent for copying has erased his own identity. He has money and his family, but he has sacrificed every meaningful relationship to get them. His story is a bleak look at how the pursuit of success can corrupt a person entirely.
The film is loosely inspired by the real-life figure Antonio Chichiarelli. The real story ended differently. Chichiarelli was shot and killed in Rome in 1984 at age 36. The movie reimagines his fate, creating a fictional ending where the forger uses his skills to vanish, leaving a trail of betrayal behind him.
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