Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
De Niro astounds as swindler Bernie Madoff
Robert De Niro brings a chilling, dead-eyed quality to playing disgraced financier Bernie Madoff, who swindled investors out of billions. There’s no sympathy for this devil in “The Wizard of Lies,” a bleak and fascinating TV film debuting Saturdayon HBO.
It’s a classic De Niro performance. The actor, who exuded physical bravura in “Taxi Driver” and “Raging Bull,” brings a focused psychological intensity to Madoff. He can charm clients, then lash out at waiters, regulators or his two sons. Madoff even goes after his 8-year-old granddaughter at a family dinner.
The script acknowledges a problem in focusing on Madoff ’s family. Son Andrew Madoff (Nathan Darrow) says there were thousands of victims bilked by his father. Andrew says he, brother Mark (Alessandro Nivola) and mom Ruth (Michelle Pfeiffer) were just three victims.
Yet the script, based on Diana B. Henriques’ book of the same name, tells a horrifying story about what befell those closest to Madoff. (“Truth and Consequences,” by Laurie Sandell was an additional source.) Madoff ’s interviews with Henriques supply the movie’s framework, and the writer plays herself astonishingly well.
Director Barry Levinson tells the story crisply and showcases superb acting. He and De Niro never sentimentalize Madoff, who talks matter-of-factly about making up investments, then complains that the people he hoodwinked were greedy. (In 2009, Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison.)
De Niro isn’t the whole show. It’s clear Pfeiffer has studied Ruth closely; the actress nails the woman’s accent and forlorn quality. Hank Azaria brings a sleazy desperation to a Madoff employee who helped pull off the biggest Ponzi scheme on record. The movie is strictly adult fare, especially when the Azaria character compares women to cars.
“The Wizard of Lies,” which mixes in news footage to remind viewers how the story gripped the country, helps explain how a man named Madoff made off with billions. Lines of De Niro’s dialogue recall the “you talkin’ to me” scene from “Taxi Driver.”
Those connections and De Niro’s mesmerizing performance enrich “The Wizard of Lies.” This isn’t regular entertainment, and neither is the exceptional star.