Definition: An unreliable narrator is a storyteller in a book, movie, or play who can’t be trusted to tell the truth. This could be because the narrator doesn’t know the full story, lies, or sees things in a biased way, making it tricky for the audience to figure out what’s happening. Screenwriters use unreliable narrators to add mystery and depth to their stories. Notable examples include Fight Club and American Psycho.
Unreliable narrators keep the audience guessing and add suspense.
Having a narrator whose account of events might not be trustworthy keeps the audience guessing what’s real and what’s not. For example, in Fight Club, the narrator’s unreliability is a key twist that deeply impacts the viewer’s understanding of the plot.
Unreliable narrators are also used to explore complex themes like mental illness or the nature of reality. A good example is seen in Shutter Island (2010), where the protagonist’s grip on reality is questioned.
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 twist denouement ending forces us to reevaluate all the clues throughout the narrative as we realize how they were used to preserve the surprise.
A good example is the scene where Dr. Crowe dines with his wife at a restaurant, and she appears to ignore him, emphasizing his detachment from reality and foreshadowing the revelation that he is dead and unaware of his death.
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:
Closing Thoughts
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.
Up Next: What is a movie climax?
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