10 Best Films With Unreliable Narrators

10. Gone Girl (2014)

Gone Girl steps up the unreliability of the narrator by having two characters telling conflicting stories of the events of the film. The narration in the film switches between wife Amy and husband Nick. Amy’s narration is compromised as she is creating a story to cover her tracks. Nick’s narration is also unreliable, as he’s hiding the fact that he is having an affair, as if found out, this would further suspicions that he murdered his missing wife. Amy’s diary also appears to tell a third story, and Amy admits to fabricating the contents to further confuse the plot.

Each character presents themselves as the good party. In the first half of the film we are told Nick’s side of the story, and we believe that he didn’t kill Amy, but then we get to find out that Amy is still alive and framing Nick for her murder in retaliation for him cheating on her. The story of Gone Girl appears to be presented with the purpose of the characters both fighting for the viewer to take their side in the conflict, and each of them shows repeatedly that they are not above being deceitful in order to achieve this aim.