Movies That Will Have You Questioning What’s Real

Several mind-bending movies make the viewer question whether or not what they are seeing onscreen is actually happening. Some of the best unreliable narrators in film sustain their delusional or exaggerated perceptions of reality by binding their warped subjectivity to the perspective of the audience. This in turn forms an alliance with the viewer from behind the screen that what they are seeing, feeling, and experiencing is true to the protagonist but may not be necessarily factual within the verisimilitude of the film itself. Unreliable narrators and narrative devices are commonly used to express a point of view that exists outside of reality. The main point of this is to establish a divergent or alternative hypothesis that becomes the overarching theme of the film. Fight Club features one of the most famous examples of an unreliable narrator who is eventually revealed to be out of touch with reality by the movie’s end. These types of unreliable creative approaches have set up some incredible third-act plot twists in films while other movies leave the viewer guessing all the way past the end credits.

Perfect Blue

Perfect Blue uses its animation style to depict a surreal atmosphere with strange twists that will leave viewers wondering what exactly is going on. The film follows former pop star Mima Kirigoe (Ruby Marlowe), who begins to lose touch with reality after being stalked by a crazed fan. Perfect Blue centralizes on themes of identity with regard to fame and celebrity and presents an unreliable narrator in Mima that creates a world of confusion for the viewer by the film’s end.

Black Swan

Black Swan is a psychological horror film that is based on the premise of a talented but unstable ballerina who has dedicated her life to perfecting her craft. Nina’s (Natalie Portman) obsession with dancing pushes her to a breaking point that begins to affect her mental health in general. She experiences severe changes in her perception of reality that trickle into her career pursuits. As Nina attempts to embrace more of the dark elements of her nature in order to land the lead ballet role, she also loses her sense of self.

The Lighthouse

The Lighthouse is another fine example of psychological horror at its best from director Robert Eggers. Two lighthouse keepers tend to a remote lighthouse while also trying to maintain their grip on reality until their suspicions of each other’s motives reach a boiling point. By the end of the film, it’s impossible to know for sure whether the allusions to deception and manipulation are truly based in reality or if they are the product of a private, isolated mind connecting invisible dots.

American Psycho

American Psycho is an outstanding satire meant to portray the idea that prominent financial executives get away with murder (literally). However, it’s unclear from the movie alone whether Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale) actually killed anybody or whether it was all a part of his violent fantasies. The film clearly depicts several instances of Bateman’s sociopathic behaviors but doesn’t leave the viewer with a definitive answer as to whether he actually killed anyone, specifically Paul Allen (Jared Leto).

Beau Is Afraid

Beau Is Afraid, the third directorial effort from the mind behind Midsommar and Hereditary Ari Aster, is certainly his most obscure film to date. The film plunges Beau (Joaquin Phoenix) into an anxiety-filled nightmare so unbelievable it must be surreal. He reaches a third-act turning point that makes the previous two acts completely utilitarian, leading to narrative developments that turn the entire film upside down. It’s a baffling and intentionally perplexing movie experience filled with unanswered, and unanswerable, questions.

Donnie Darko

The classic, psychological thriller Donnie Darko is based on the premise of Donnie’s (Jake Gyllenhaal) imaginary friend, Frank. Frank wears a creepy bunny costume and instructs Donnie to do odd things after letting him on a secret that the world would end in less than a month. Although we are led to believe that Frank is a hallucination of Donnie’s unstable mind throughout the film, several specific plot developments suggest that Frank and his apocalyptic message may actually be based on a predictable fact or even a self-evident truth.

Life of Pi

Ang Lee’s Life of Pi presents a magical vision of a gruesome survival story that combines elements of surrealism with the basic human instinct of self-preservation. Pi Patel (Suraj Sharma) survives a disaster at sea and is stranded on a lifeboat with several zoo animals, including a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. The film suspends reality due to Pi’s lack of food, inspiring some beautiful and spiritually inspiring sequences that leave viewers wondering how much of Pi’s story is true and whether he how much he could have dreamed in his vulnerable state.

Lost Highway

Lost Highway is one of David Lynch’s most prominent works and is known for its innovative use of philosophical arrangement in its story and character design. Lynch allows for some unexplainable things to occur in the film to drive home the larger point and intentional themes of guilt, denial, and suspicion. Lost Highway thrives within its own surrealistic nature, relying on the acceptance by an audience of suspended reality to deliver a deeply poignant and ultimately cathartic film experience.

Jacob’s Ladder

Inception

Inception is perhaps the most cerebral modern film that disrupts the viewer’s understanding of reality. While Christopher Nolan’s epic meticulously explains its own logic through multiple exposition scenes, the complex rules of the world in Inception are established only to be ultimately broken and thrown out the window at the end. story. Multiple fan theories have emerged to discover the true meaning of Inception as one of the most mind-bending movies ever made, but the real question lies in the film’s final shot and its ambiguous, divisive ending.