SCALENE AND THE UNRELIABLE NARRATOR

SCALENE, an indie film from 2012, tells the same story at different times from three different points of view – In this order, a single mother in her late 40’s early 50’s, her brain damaged son, and the female college student age caregiver hired to look after the son who later charges him with rape.

By the end of the film, we are left with a very different picture about what has gone on then we had at the beginning and continuing through the first segment, the mother’s segment. 

The use of the unreliable narrator, someone who tells his version of a story that isn’t necessarily the truth, can be complicated as it almost always recalls multiple points of view and the planting of clues so the audience can understand what is really happening.

Of course, if the plot is constructed well enough one can go for a big reveal at the end like for example THE USUAL SUSPECTS when all that is happened has set up Verbal Kint and Kaiser Soze and that long walk down the street from the police station.

Showing events out of order such as in the films MEMENTO and 21 GRAMS directly contrasts the actions and words of characters.  In those cases, the camera itself is the unreliable narrator.

In the case of SCALENE, although I found the explanation of the denouement a bit farfetched, we see the mother’s view of her care for her son is very different than what the caregiver finds.  This results in the caregiver’s actions (the farfetched part).  

The acting is quite good here.  Margo Martindale turns in a desperate layered performance as the mother.  It reminded me of Ann Dowd’s performance in COMPLIANCE (not as good a movie).  Scalene IS An interesting movie that does a better than competent job of playing around with narrative structure.