The Unbelievable Truth is an ironic, sober film about the lighter and darker sides of human relationships. In the film, a modern relationship looks a lot like a capitalist transaction.The sweet seventeen-year-old pacifist Audrey Hugo falls in love with Josh, a car mechanic who has just been released from jail. The title of the film refers to an incident in Josh’s past: he is alleged to have killed the father and the sister of a woman from the village. Audrey was only a baby at the time and doesn’t know the details. Josh goes to work in the garage of her father Victor. Victor is not too keen on a relationship between Audrey and Josh, but his skill as a mechanic does at least bring in some money. Victor would most like Audrey to study, and so does she, but only at Harvard and he can’t afford that. Then Audrey suddenly becomes very successful as a photo-model and moves in unenthusiastically with her ex-boyfriend, the photographer who is so important for her career.Hal Hartley’s feature-film debut was widely praised, despite being made on a budget of only 200,000 dollars. Hartley made the film in his birthplace Linderhurst, Long Island. The film was compared in the reviews with David Lynch, especially withhis Twin Peaks, which also focuses on running gags, one-liners and the machinations of a group of people in a small and relatively closed community. Paul Molina (Village View): ‘We manage to leave the theatre feeling both enlightened and ashamed, but certainly a little closer to the “truth”.’
