The Unbelievable Truth

Audry feels, and looks, like the heroine of a Nouvelle Vague film who is trapped in the very ordinary surroundings of a Long Island suburb in the late 1980s. She obsesses about the hollowness of existence and the threat of nuclear conflagration, wears black and has an uncanny resemblance to a young Bardot. So it is inevitable that, after she dumps her proto-yuppie boyfriend, she becomes fascinated by Josh, an older man who has returned to the neighbourhood after a long and enforced absence. For not only does he wear a black polo neck, he also has 'a history.'

What saves Hal Hartley's 1989 debut from being as annoying as its heroine is his deft undercutting of any pretentiousness with some lovely comic and absurdist setpieces, from running gags and bedroom farce, to a bizarre circular conversation and the unexplained reappearance of a minor character. A warm and witty love story for what might just be the end of the world.