10 Most Unreliable Movie Narrators Of All Time

There should be no character in a film more reliable than its narrator, at least in theory. If we can’t trust the very person who’s supposed to be regaling their story as factual information, then who can we trust?

Cinema has a deep and colourful history when it comes to unreliable narrators, dating all the way back to Robert Wiene’s The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari from 1920. These narrators aren’t merely omniscient voiceovers attempting to trick us through misleading monologues, they can also be the leading protagonist within a particular film, the person through whose eyes we watch the entire narrative play out. They are our guides through their particular cinematic journey, and we trust them implicitly.

But when that trust erodes, we’re left feeling confused and violated; outraged from being so easily misled. Who is this person, really? Why have we spent the last ninety minutes believing in their plight? Were they even the main character to begin with, or were they simply a figment of some wandering imagination or manic fever dream?

Obviously, spoilers lie ahead – some of these characters may not be as trustworthy as they seem.

When Nick Dunne first discovers his wife Amy missing, we feel bad for him. We can only imagine what such a situation would do to a person. But as it turns out, Nick seems less concerned than everyone watching. He acts aloof and disinterested, and almost seems to be a freer man now that his wife is gone.

So when police suspect that Amy was murdered, Nick’s attitude and the available evidence all seem to suggest that he is the killer. Despite their seemingly perfect appearances, the couple had been falling out, wading through money troubles, and Nick had begun having an affair. Detectives find a diary written by Amy, in which she details her growing fear that Nick is going to kill her. The tables have turned, and we suddenly feel no love towards Nick, and only sympathy towards the deceased Amy.

But Amy isn’t dead. She’s living high and dry on a campground, having skipped town after planting evidence to frame Nick for the murder. From the flashbacks to the media circus, we now no longer know who to trust. Both Amy and Nick had initially seemed like normal, respectable people, but it turns out the latter is one of the lousiest husbands ever, and the former is a bonafide sociopath.