Top 10 Movie Narrators Who Lied To Us
We saw these incredible stories come to life on screen through the perspective of these characters, but not all of these characters are trustworthy, and we can't always trust what they're telling us! WatchMojo presents the Top 10 Unreliable Narrators in Movies! But who will take the top spot on our list? But who will take the top spot on our list? Will it be the witnesses from Rashomon, Tyler Durden from Fight Club, or Verbal Kint from The Usual Suspects? Watch to find out!
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#10: Malcolm Crowe “The Sixth Sense” (1999)
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A child psychologist with a broken marriage, Dr. Malcolm Crowe’s newest patient is a boy named Cole who claims to be able to see ghosts. Crowe does not believe Cole at first, but his discovery that Vincent, a former patient of his, may have had the same ability leads him to believe the troubled child, and he encourages Cole to embrace his gift. It seems a happy ending is in sight; however, Crowe eventually discovers that his marriage is not broken – his wife is grieving because he’s dead. He’s been a ghost the whole time. Sometimes, it’s not that the narrator is intentionally lying to us, but simply that they’re unaware of the truth.
#9: Edward ‘Teddy’ Daniels “Shutter Island” (2010)
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US Marshall Teddy Daniels and his partner Chuck are charged with investigating the disappearance of a patient from a mental hospital on the titular island. There appears to be a conspiracy to hide the truth from them. In addition, Daniels is haunted by the death of his wife and her killer, Andrew Laeddis, who may be in the asylum too. There is indeed a conspiracy at work, but not the one Daniels was expecting – he is Andrew Laeddis, he killed his wife, and the staff has been allowing him to play out his paranoid delusions in the hopes of snapping him out of them.
#8: Fred Madison & Pete Dayton “Lost Highway” (1997)
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Fred Madison is a saxophonist convicted of his wife’s murder and sentenced to prison. However, while in prison, Fred inexplicably becomes Pete Dayton, a mechanic and someone completely different. Pete is let go and resumes his life, but is drawn into Fred’s life when he begins having an affair with a woman who may or may not be Fred’s wife in a different body. The pair swaps bodies again, and set into motion events that happened earlier. Is there time travel, are one or both insane, and is there a point looking for concrete answers in a David Lynch movie? This may be less of a case of unreliable narrator, and more of an instance of reliably variable filmmaker.
#7: Nick & Amy Elliott Dunne “Gone Girl” (2014)
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This married couple appears perfect from the outside: Nick is a successful writing teacher and the amazing Amy is the inspiration for a series of popular children’s books. However, when Amy goes missing, evidence, including blood and a salacious diary written by Amy herself, points towards Nick. Nick’s apathy only increases suspicions, and even the audience is unsure whether or not to trust him. The truth is not so simple – Amy is revealed to still be alive and she’s gone to extensive lengths to frame him for her murder as revenge for his infidelity; revealing her to be an absolute psychopath.
#6: Patrick Bateman “American Psycho” (2000)
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Speaking of the deranged, Patrick Bateman is a superficial ‘80s businessman who takes out his suppressed rage by violently murdering women, the homeless, and a colleague. Insight into Bateman’s murderous attitudes comes from his continual narration throughout the film. Yet, near the end of “American Psycho,” one of his apparent victims is revealed to still be alive, and a diary of his is discovered to be full of violent drawings and writing. Bateman concludes his narration by stating that his confession has meant nothing. How much of his rampage was true, if any, is left to the viewer’s imagination.
#5: Joel Barish “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” (2004)
Joel Barish meets an eccentric woman, Clementine, on a train from Montauk, New York and they hit it off. After two years together, their relationship begins to unravel in a series of dreamlike sequences, which culminates in Clementine having her memories of their relationship erased. Eventually Joel decides to have the procedure done as well. It’s then revealed that their meeting aboard the train takes place after they have lost their memories, and that the dreamlike bulk of the film consists of Joel’s memories as they’re being erased. Upon learning of their previous relationship in the present, Joel and Clementine decide to try again.
#4: Leonard “Memento” (2000)
Afflicted with the inability to form new memories, Leonard Shelby hunts for his wife’s killer with the help of Polaroid photos, tattoos on his body, and an ally calling himself Teddy. Leonard’s pursuit is complicated and tough to follow, especially since it’s told out of order. Eventually, Leonard discovers that he had already gotten revenge on the man he’d been chasing a year ago, and that Teddy is using his condition to his own advantage, leading Leonard to manipulate his notes to kill Teddy too. Leonard ends up being unreliable to both the audience, and himself.
#3: The Narrator / Tyler Durden “Fight Club” (1999)
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The nameless protagonist of “Fight Club,” sometimes called Jack, is a dissatisfied office drone who suffers from a sleep disorder. After meeting the charismatic Tyler Durden, the pair forms the titular fight club, which spreads like wildfire and leads to the formation of a nihilistic terrorist organization. However, some things remain out of place and the narrator soon finds people mistaking him for Tyler - and for good reason. As it turns out, Tyler is another personality that overtakes the narrator’s mind while he’s sleeping; a revelation that throws him and the audience for a loop.
#2: Roger ‘Verbal’ Kint “The Usual Suspects” (1995)
A con man with cerebral palsy interviewed by federal officers after a bloodbath on a boat, Roger “Verbal” Kint narrates much of this film, detailing how he and a crew of other criminals were recruited and manipulated by a mysterious mastermind named Keyser Söze. The feds deduce that Verbal’s fellow criminal, Dean Keaton, was actually Söze all along. However, it’s only after Verbal leaves that they realize he lied and took several places and names from words he found in the room, calling his whole narrative into question. A fax then comes through, showing a sketch provided by the only survivor of the boat massacre, revealing Verbal to be Keyser Söze. Before we get to our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions: - Francis “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” (1920) - John Nash “A Beautiful Mind” (2001) - Edward Bloom “Big Fish” (2003)
#1: The Wood Cutter, the Bandit, Samurai’s Wife & the Samurai “Rashomon” (1950)
Under the ruined Rashomon gate, a woodcutter and priest recount a trial that occurred to determine who was responsible for killing a samurai. A bandit, the samurai’s wife, and the samurai’s spirit are all called as witnesses. However, their stories are all contradictory, and each casts their own deeds more positively than the others involved in the incident. The woodcutter cuts in and explains that none contained the whole truth, and even his account is not entirely accurate. “Rashomon” is a tremendously influential film, to the point where the psychological equivalent of the unreliable narrator concept in real life is named “the Rashomon effect.”
