It would be fun to put this introduction in the middle of the article, having some entries before flashing back to an introduction to explain what a flashback is, since that would demonstrate the idea of one in a fairly nice way. But it’s just not allowed. So imagine it happened, or picture it further down, and then you can kind of get the article equivalent of a flashback that way.
Flashbacks often just show up as one-off scenes, done to explain or emphasize part of a character’s history or worldview in some manner. Most movies aren’t made up entirely of flashbacks (and some make the choice to not have flashbacks at all), but the following films are all interesting because (much) more than half the runtime in each of them is spent on depicting flashbacks.
10
‘Nymphomaniac’ (2013)
Things begin in a pretty grim way in Nymphomaniac, with a woman found beaten and alone in an alleyway, at which point a man finds her and takes her back to his house, seemingly to help her. While there, she tells him about her life, starting with when she was young and then building up to what happened before she was found in the alley, with her story focusing on her life as a self-confessed nymphomaniac.
The film was released in two parts, both in the same year, so Nymphomaniac is ultimately an endurance test and also very provocative for all of its incredibly long runtime. It’s got some alarming stuff in it, even by the standards of Lars von Trier’s filmography, and once the story’s been told throughout all the flashbacks, Von Trier finds other ways to keep things confronting, too.
9
‘Moulin Rouge’ (2001)
Since Moulin Rouge has the main character narrating, right at the start, the statement: “The woman I love is dead,” it’s not too surprising, then, that much of the film goes back in time to showcase that love and inevitable tragedy. And then it’s a bit disarming how lively and colorful the movie ends up being, even if you know it’s always going toward miserable territory, but that’s Baz Luhrmann for you.
Moulin Rouge is an impressively bombastic musical that you’re not likely to mistake for the work of any other filmmaker out there.
He mostly makes it work, and Moulin Rouge is an impressively bombastic musical that you’re not likely to mistake for the work of any other filmmaker out there. It’s one of the simpler movies that’s largely made up of flashbacks, sure, at least on a structural front, but it still counts, and isn’t one of those movies that builds up to something shown right at the start, and then has a good deal of story left to tell after that point (maybe like Pulp Fiction, since if you re-edit that chronologically, everything with Bruce Willis takes place “after” the events of the final scene).
8
‘Lolita’ (1962)
Image via Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
It can be uncontroversially stated that Stanley Kubrick was one of the greatest directors of all time, to the point where something as good (and as daring) as Lolita is actually a comparatively weak film within Kubrick’s body of work. The fact that it was made at all is kind of the most impressive thing, considering what the original book dealt with, and while the movie’s milder, it’s still quite confronting for something that came out in the 1960s.
There’s a sense of violence and everyone’s lives having fallen apart introduced right at the start, and then things flash back to show how everyone got there. It’s a simple and reliable structure, and mirrors the way the novel is told, too, being one of many movies that demonstrated Kubrick was always pretty great at taking literature and adapting it to film.
7
‘Forrest Gump’ (1994)
If you re-editedForrest Gumpto play out in chronological order,it wouldn’t be massively different(well,it would likely be much choppier though you’d still be able to make sense of things). The titular character tells his life story to a bunch of people in a pretty straightforward way while waiting at a bus stop,and then there’s something of an epilogue after all the storytelling is over.
Turns out he has quite an eventful life,to say the least,which involves meeting numerous historical figures,taking part in Vietnam War being an inspirational long-distance runner,and playing table tennis. There’s a lot that can be said and critiqued aboutForrest Gump,but there are certainly things to like as well with all time and different events covered ensuring that things never really feel too boring or repetitive throughout.
6
‘American Beauty’ (1999)
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