Should all narrators be trusted? Every "Once upon a time..." and "A long, long time ago..." is meant to be followed by an accurate account of events...or so we're told. Some tales, in fact, unfold from the perspective of personas who take liberties with the truth. This classic storytelling device is called the unreliable narrator.

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Unreliable narrators have permeated the realm of cinema, and the results have been mind-boggling. Thanks to these tricky story-tellers, moviegoers have been left to wonder if the objective truth of certain films has been compromised. This is no novelty act, either: many outstanding films thrived from an extra layer of intrigue created by questionable narration.

Rashomon: What Is Truth, Again?

The narrators in Rashomon
Image via Daiei Film

Among all the films that feature unreliable narration, perhaps the most prominent is Rashomon, an Akira Kurosawa work that came out in 1950. Based on short fiction by author Ryunosuke Akutagawa, Rashomon is centered on the mystery surrounding the murder of a samurai. Here's why it's a mystery: the three people involved in the murder—including the victim, speaking through a medium—all tell different, even contradictory accounts!

On a philosophical level, Rashomon challenges the very nature of truth. To this day, the term "Rashomon Effect" is used to describe how a solitary event can be described or interpreted by different people in such contrasting ways.

Amadeus: An Embellished Composition

Tom Hulce as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Amadeus

Is there such a thing as an Academy Award-winning unreliable narrator? This unique distinction belongs to F. Murray Abraham's Antonio Salieri, whose perspective frames the story of the 1984 film Amadeus. In this Miloš Forman masterpiece, Salieri is on a mission to take down renowned composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Tom Hulce), who happens to be a foul-mouthed alcoholic.

But was he, really? The quality of Salieri's memory can certainly be called to question due to his advanced age and problematic mental condition. As such, his recollections throughout the entire film (including his audacious claim that he murdered Mozart) are shady at best and contradictory at worst.

Forrest Gump: An Adorable Type Of Unreliable

Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump
Image via Paramount Pictures

While 1994’s Forrest Gump is widely known for its “box of chocolates” quote, what is less frequently mentioned is the titular character’s questionable story-telling. As the account of Forrest (Tom Hanks) becomes more and more extravagant—with mentions of Elvis Presley, Bear Bryant, and two US presidents—the audience can’t help but wonder if it’s all a tall tale.

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Forrest’s credibility as a narrator takes a major hit when a childhood flashback reveals his IQ level to be at 75. Despite this, his heart appears to be in the right place. By all indications, Forrest loved his son dearly; as such, he might have even told the boy some accurate bedtime stories.

The Usual Suspects: That Sly Devil

The characters of 'The Usual Suspects'

How creative can an unreliable narrator be? Roger “Verbal” Kint (Kevin Spacey) put on a con artist masterclass in 1995’s The Usual Suspects. This certified classic puts the storyteller on the hot seat of interrogation, but it may as well have been a driver’s seat, as the manipulative Verbal was in control the entire time.

Verbal’s narrative had it all: crime networks, urban legends, and survivor accounts. The con artist is eventually released by his interrogator Agent Kujan (Chazz Palminteri), who realizes the truth a few minutes too late. It turns out that the crime lord Keyser Söze, who figures heavily in Verbal’s story, was not some boogeyman whose face had never been seen. Verbal was Söze, and he concocted many of the intricate details in his narration by looking at random items and names in the interrogation room.

The Sixth Sense: A Deadly Twist

Bruce Willis and Haley Joel Osment in The Sixth Sense

While some narrators deliberately lie because of certain motives, other narrators are not even aware that their perspective has been wildly derailed. Take, for instance, the psychologist Malcom Crowe (Bruce Willis) in 1999’s The Sixth Sense. For much of the film, his focus was on the mysterious ability of 9-year-old Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment) to allegedly “see dead people.” While this was certainly an enigma, Crowe was not prepared for what he was about to uncover.

Heeding Cole’s advice, Crowe spoke with his estranged wife Anna (Olivia Williams) while she slept. It was then that reality struck him: like the other entities that Cole could speak with, Crowe was—wait for it—dead. He had not, in fact, survived the gunshot inflicted by a former patient at the start of the film. Creepy.

Fight Club: A Free-For-All, Struggle For All

Edward Norton and Brad Pitt in Fight Club

Who among us hasn’t harbored strong fantasies about what life could actually be? 1999’s Fight Club highlights the human tendency to project unfulfilled ideals by using (what else?) an unreliable narrator. Funnily enough, the film’s main character (played by Edward Norton) is simply named The Narrator. Unsatisfied by his career and material possessions, he decides to start a Fight Club with the impulsive, free-spirited Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt).

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However, The Narrator’s wild adventures with Tyler weren’t exactly as they seemed. In actuality, Tyler was a dissociated personality who represented the qualities that The Narrator aspired for. In the end, The Narrator puts Tyler away, thus surviving a fight that had been raging within him from the very start.

Black Swan: A Disturbed Dancer

Natalie Portman in Black Swan

Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan is a quintessential psycho-thriller. At multiple points in the film, the audience is just as confused about the nature of reality as the main character Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman). A ballerina for a New York dance company, Nina has to navigate both the unrelenting pressures of the ballet industry and the instability of her paranoid mind.

Thanks to the film's beautiful yet haunting cinematography, the objective truth of the narrative gets lost in a maze of mirrors. Unfortunately for Nina, there seems to be no denying her final fate. At the conclusion of the film, she perishes from a self-inflicted fatal blow—a staggering revelation, considering that she thought she'd stabbed her rival Lily (Mila Kunis) just a few scenes earlier.

Life of Pi: Who Was On The Lifeboat?

Pi Patel and the tiger standing aboard a ship at sea in Life of Pi

Towards the end of 2012's Life of Pi, the writer played by Rafe Spall has to make a decision along with the viewing audience: which version of the protagonist's story is correct? Though both versions would have made a great memoir, the instinctive urge to discover the truth remained strong. In one version, sixteen-year-old Pi (Suraj Sharma) survives a shipwreck with some exotic animals, including an orangutan and a tiger named Richard Parker.

In the other version, the human companions of Pi take the place of the animals, leading to some horrifying implications of murder and cannibalism. Though the writer eventually indicated which version he preferred, the audience is left to wonder what really happened when the unreliable narrator was adrift at sea.

Gone Girl: Double The Trouble

Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike in Gone Girl

In 2014's Gone Girl, writing teacher Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) is in a bind when he discovers that his wife Amy (Rosamund Pike) is missing. A detective (Kim Dickens) conducts an investigation in their house, where she finds curious details like bloodstains and positive pregnancy results that Nick is unaware of. What could have happened in this fine suburban home?

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Why, it must have been inhabited by not one, but two unreliable narrators. On one hand, entries in Amy's diary suggest that her marriage to Nick wasn't as delightful as he claimed. On the other hand, Amy is further revealed to have pulled off an intricate scheme to try to frame her cheating husband for murder.

Joker: Makes More Cents Than Sense

Joaquin Phoenix in Joker

A film about the Clown Prince of Crime could not possibly have been told in a traditional, linear format. Just as his origins in the comics are ambiguous at best, 2019's Joker blurs its own narrative with delusions, bizarre transitions, and questionable family origins.

Was Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) an illegitimate son of Thomas Wayne (Brett Cullen)—and, by extension, the half-brother of Gotham's future caped crusader? If Arthur totally made up his romantic interaction with his neighbor Sophie (Zazie Beetz), could he have fabricated any of the other exchanges seen in the film? The answers will never be clear as day, and moviegoers can do nothing but watch as Arthur mirthfully laughs.

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