Watched The Wolf of Wall Street again yesterday and something clicked about how Scorsese tells the story

It feels like the entire movie is shot from inside Jordan Belfort’s head. All the excess, the money, drugs, parties, sex is exaggerted to the point of absurdity. Meanwhile the truly dark consequencs never feel as brutal as they realistically were. Scorsese easily could’ve shown the damage in a far more disturbing, grounded way, but he doesn’t. And I think that choice is deliberate.

The “I drove home safely” scene is the clearest example. In Belfort’s mind, he’s a genius who kept it together. Then we see the actual reality total destruction. That one scene tells you everything, the movie isn’t showing the world as it is, but as belfort believes it to be.

That’s why the film feels like its “glorifying” the lifestyle. It’s not Scorsese glorifyng it its belfort. We’re stuck inside his delusion the whole time. The highs look incredible because he thinks they were. The lows feel softened because he never processed the harm he caused.

And then there’s the final scene, which I honestly think is a masterpiece. Belfort is reduced to giving sales seminars, but Scorsese frames it like he’s still the king he imagines himself to be. What hit me the most was the audiences faces all staring at him with this mix of hope, desperation, and admiration. It’s Scorseses final punchline that belfort may have fallen, but the world is still eager to be sold the same dream.

The cycle continues, and people still want what he represents even after seeing how hollow and destructive it is.

To me, that ending recontextualizes the whole movie. It’s not just a story about Belfort. Its about the audience both in the film and in real life who are still drawn to the fantasy he built.

Edit: A few people pointed out that this idea is already established in the very first shot where jordan corrects the color of the car. And yeah, that absolutely sets the rule for the whole movie.

But that’s not exactly what I meant. im talking about how Scorsese goes beyond that one meta moment. He builds an entire visual language around Belfort’s warped perception. It’s not just that Jordan changes tiny details, the whole world is filmed the way he wants to remember it, almost like reality is bending itself around his fantasy.

And the irony is that the truth only breaks through in brief, jarring bursts like the real version of the driving scene, Naomi throwing water on him, the yacht sinking moments where Scorsese essentially grabs the camera back from Jordan and shows the objective version of events.

so yes, that first shot establishes the rule.
but what im pointing at is the way Scorsese keeps that rule alive throughout the entire film, basically letting us watch a movie that feels codirected by jordans own delusions. Thats why the excess feels so shiny, why the darkness feels blunted, and why the whole thing plays like one long, unreliable flashback.