The Unbelievable Truth is a 1989 indie comedy-drama film written and directed by Hal Hartley starring Adrienne Shelly and Robert John Burke. It was nominated for a Grand Jury Prize in 1990 at the Sundance Film Festival. The region 1 DVD was released March 11, 2001.

Plot

The Unbelievable Truth, like most early Hartley films, is a study of relationships, but here the tension is between expectation and reality. Beautiful Audrey is expected to remain with her high-school quarterback boyfriend and become a successful fashion model, but she instead becomes interested in a man of mystery, a man with at least one manslaughter in his past--many characters speculate about how many people he's killed, and the stories of his past are taller every time they're told. A genius mechanic, uncomfortable with relationships--as it seems all heroes in Hartley's universe are--he has to learn to adapt to the interest of this woman supposedly outside his reach, and to learn to trust his instincts when he has to fight to win her back.