Witnessing the same events unfold from different angles reveals new insights, motivations, and emotions. The storytelling technique of multiple perspectives has become a captivating approach that heightens a film's suspense and appeals to the viewer's imagination. Below are examples such movies directed using this method.
1. Vantage Point (2008)
Barry L. Levy wrote the screenplay, and Pete Travis was the director of this 2008 American political action thriller. From the many perspectives of several characters, the narrative focuses on an assassination attempt on the President of the United States at Salamanca, Spain.
2. The Last Duel (2021)
This movie tells the story of a knight who challenges his former friend to a duel to settle an allegation of a severe personal assault made against him. Due to the varied viewpoints of the three main characters, the events leading up to the duel are divided into three distinct chapters.
3. Rashomon (1950)
The Japanese psychological thriller is renowned for a plot gimmick in which many individuals offer subjective, contradicting, and alternate accounts of the same incident—the murder of a samurai in a forest.
4. Memento (2000)
A series of scenes in black and white that are displayed chronologically and a series of scenes in color shown in reverse order make up the non-linear narrative of the movie. It details how a man with short-term memory loss and the inability to form new memories searches for those who killed his wife after attacking him and assaulting her. At the movie's conclusion, the two sequences come together to form a single, seamless story.
5. Go (1999)
The film follows a number of different characters who are all somehow connected to an ecstasy sale, and depending on the viewpoint, viewers are coerced to perceive the characters through very different prisms.
6. Knives Out (2019)
Each character in this mystery film recounts the same events when speaking with Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig), but they all have secrets they're trying to hide. Additionally, each character has a unique style of storytelling. The audience must unravel a fascinating web to solve the murder.
7. 11:14 (2003)
This Greg Merks-directed comedy thriller follows five distinct plots. The film explores the experiences of numerous individuals whose paths cross in a small town at 11:14 p.m. The story develops in an unconventional order, with each character providing a unique viewpoint on the events of that night. All of which culminates in a series of car-related accidents that take place in one evening.
8. Gone Girl (2014)
The fact that each half of the movie is seen from the viewpoint of a different character helps achieve its mystery. The first half of the film is from the husband's perspective, and the second half is from the wife's, as it tells about a wife who has vanished and whose husband is the main suspect.
9. Courage Under Fire (1999)
Serling (Denzel Washington) had to sift through the different perspectives of soldiers who had worked with the recently deceased Karen Walden to determine if she was worthy of a posthumous medal.
10. Hero (2002)
The movie follows a nameless mercenary (Jet Li) who describes to the Chinese emperor how he defeated three lethal assassins. This feat was explored from the mercenary's perspective and the emperor's. Only when the third act fills in the blanks and connects all the dots will viewers be aware of who is telling the complete truth.
11. The Handmaiden (2016)
A girl engaged as a handmaid for a Japanese heiress was the focus of this adaptation of the book Fingersmith. A handmaiden who appears to be a participant in a con artist's fraud scheme opens the story. It continues with the romantic affair between the handmaiden and the empress. However, significant incidents from the viewpoint of a different character give further insight into numerous scenes.
12. Jackie Brown (1997)
Melanie is shot dead in the parking lot after Jackie and Louis exchange money at a shopping mall during a tense and frustrating moment. The scene is reenacted three times during the film, helping viewers realize that certain characters know more than they're letting on.
13. Pulp Fiction (1994)
The robbery at a diner where various characters met served as the plot of this film, although each piece was told from a different point of view. The three major protagonists were tracked through various life events that all took place at the same time. The characters in the non-linear novel discover a shocking new finale at each turning point.
14. Run Lola Run
In Run Lola Run, a young woman has 20 minutes to find enough money to save her boyfriend's life. What makes the film unique is its narrative structure, which presents three different versions of Lola's race against time, each with its own outcome.
Through these parallel storylines, the film explores the concept of fate and the butterfly effect, demonstrating how small decisions and chance encounters can drastically alter the course of events.
This multi-perspective approach allows the audience to witness the consequences of Lola's actions from various angles, providing a thought-provoking and exhilarating cinematic experience.
15. I See You
I See You came out in 2019, showing a family in a lot of emotional distress as the father of the family is not only dealing with being the lead on an abduction case but also dealing with his family's own strange happenings around the house. While we see all of the events play out from the family's point of view, towards the end, we're welcomed into the secrets that have been kept the entire time about what is actually happening around this family.
Source: Reddit