12 movies that expertly break the fourth wall

9. High Fidelity

Personal therapist without the couch, unless you count the couch we’re watching it on. Without the fourth wall break in High Fidelity, we probably wouldn’t like the main character. He’s rude when regarding others, negative and an overall jerk. If that was all we got to see, he’d be very unlikable. During his many conversations with the audience, which is almost like he’s talking to himself, we see a bit of what’s going on underneath. He’s really a miserable guy, struggling to see what the point of life is while coping with the aftermath of a break-up.

Many movies show a character’s hurt by using subtle hints. When alone they act differently or they’re quietly depressed, High Fidelity just cuts to the chase by telling the audience directly. The fourth wall break is what makes the movie so relatable. Everyone has gone through bad breakups, it’s part of life. Rob Gordon takes his breakup particularly bad and becomes determined to find out what went wrong. Us, the audience, are following his journey of lovesickness, acting as his understanding companions along the way.

8. Psycho

Another movie that doesn’t break the fourth wall until the very end. I assume most people have seen Psycho and remember the moment Norman Bates as “Mother” looks up into the camera with a sinister smile saying “I wouldn’t even hurt a fly.” Norman Bates lives alone in a motel on an empty highway and when a young woman rents a room, she winds up murdered. The whole movie has the audience thinking Norman’s mother is the killer but it’s actually Norman suffering from D.I.D. His mother is his other personality created because he couldn’t move on after her death.

This is again a ruse. Norman wants the police to think that “Mother” is the killer and he has no control over her. However, in the final moments, Norman smiles at the camera as “Mother” admits that she is the only thing keeping Norman from killing. He’s the real monster.

Psycho is incredible enough without this mind-blowing ending, but it’s this scene that is the most remembered decades later. It’s not only to show the audience that they fell for Norman’s trick, but also to let them in on his dark secret. The equivalence to pressing his finger to his lips and whispering “shh, don’t tell.”