HBO
The exceptional Saturnine ordering of the clothing and accessories closet of Bernie Madoff suggests he’d be an ace at accounting. Based on Diana B. Henriques’ book, Barry Levinson’s television film “The Wizard of Lies” demonstrates early on that Madoff – responsible for bilking trusting investors out of tens of billions of dollars in his Ponzi scheme – was indeed brilliant at aligning numbers. But because there were zero trades, his company’s financial statements were fake.
“None of it is real,” says Madoff (Robert De Niro) to his family – wife Ruth (Michelle Pfeiffer) and sons Andrew (Nathan Darrow) and Mark (Alessandro Nivola) – as he sets up the telefilm’s predominant Neptunian archetype of deception, victimization, lies and naivete. Madoff’s declaration about his operation’s fuzziness is bookended by Ruth’s: “You always keep me in the dark.” Even a grand catered affair showcasing lobster alludes to Neptune’s abode at the bottom of the sea, a place of murkiness in which Madoff thrived or, at least, could not stop himself. Even Ambien, with its power to elicit a Neptunian hypnotic effect, makes an appearance.
HBO
Madoff’s assertion there’s “no innocent explanation” underscores how unaware investors lost their life savings and how his closest family members were thrown into a state of utter bewilderment and despair. He deceived others and later, in an act of self-deception – vivid imagination is part of Neptune’s bailiwick – convinced himself that, had he died, his wife and sons would not have been convicted of any crime.
Archetype: Deceiver. Charlatan. Liar. Victim.
Astrology Archetype: ♆ (Neptune)
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