The Unreliable Narrator in Film. Meaning and Examples.

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Published: April 9, 2024 | Last Updated: June 19, 2025

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Unreliable narrator Definition & Meaning

An unreliable narrator is a storyteller who isn’t truthful or accurate in a book, movie, or play. This might happen because the narrator lacks information, lies, or has a biased perspective, making it harder for us to understand the truth. Screenwriters use unreliable narrators to create mystery and complexity in their stories. Examples include Fight Club (1999) and American Psycho (2000).

The purpose and effect of unreliable narrators

Unreliable narrators mess with our perception, making us question what’s real and what’s not. They’re a way to keep us on edge, adding mystery and tension while delivering big twists.

At the same time, they explore themes like mental illness, memory, or how we see reality, pushing us to figure out the truth ourselves. It’s a clever way to make a story more layered and mind-bending.

A Brief Analysis of Examples from Mainstream Movies

Here are some good examples of unreliable narrators in mainstream movies. Warning: Spoilers ahead!

Fight Club (1999)

Fight Club is one of the most iconic examples of an unreliable narrator in film.

The protagonist, played by Edward Norton, narrates a story that takes a wild turn as the plot unravels, revealing his unreliable nature in a shocking twist as he (and us as the audience) discovers that his friend Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) is, in fact, a figment of his imagination and one big red herring.

The Sixth Sense (1999)

The Sixth Sense is about a boy (Haley Joel Osment) who can see ghosts and the psychologist Dr. Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) trying to help him. The twist is that the psychologist is also a ghost, which we (and he) don’t know until the end.

The Sixth Sense Restaurant Scene — A good example of the unreliable narrator in **The Sixth Sense** (1999) is the scene where Dr. Crowe dines with his wife at a restaurant. She appears to ignore him, emphasizing his detachment from reality and foreshadowing the revelation that he is dead and unaware of his death. Buena Vista Pictures Distribution.

The twist denouement ending forces us to reevaluate all the clues throughout the narrative as we realize how they were used to preserve the surprise.

American Psycho (2000)

In American Psycho, the audience is taken into the mind of Patrick Bateman, a Wall Street yuppie who leads a double life as a serial killer. Bateman’s narrator reliability is constantly questioned, with the film blurring the lines between reality and his psychotic delusions.

One of the key scenes that highlight Bateman as an unreliable narrator is the climax of his killing spree, which culminates in a confrontation with the police—a shootout with police results in a police car exploding after he shoots it with his handgun. The absurdity of this scenario casts doubt on the reality of the situation.

This event is followed by Bateman confessing over the phone to his lawyer, admitting to his crimes, but when he meets with his lawyer the next day, the lawyer laughs off his confession as a joke. He even mistakes Bateman for another person, suggesting that Bateman’s identity and actions might not be as clear-cut as presented to us as viewers throughout the movie:

Summing Up

Unreliable narrators in movies remind us that good screenwriting is not just about relaying facts but also making us question what is real and constantly challenging us to engage with the story by using our judgment and perception to discern the truth.