Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind goes through Joel and Clementine’s relationship in reverse.
In that case, Millennium Actress, which I mentioned above, does it twice. It starts with the scene of Chiyoko piloting a space ship, which turns out to be a flashback to the middle of her story – and is literally “in medias res”, since it’s about half way between the start and the end of the events shown. Then it moves to the “main story”, which is the interview of Chiyoko by Tachibana, and that main story is a frame for the flashbacks into Chiyoko’s life, starting about 60 years before the interview.
Betrayal has its scenes running in reverse chronological order. The first scene is the last scene chronologically, and it goes backwards from there.
What Miller said.
Can’t believe nobody’s mentioned Goodfellas yet. The opening scene has Henry transporting the victim in the trunk, until he interrupts as narrator saying something like, “I guess I should explain how we got here.” Then we jump to the beginning of the story and the film proceeds linearly from there.
Forrest Gump is immediately what I thought of.
Amadeus is another one.
Whatever happened to Baby Jane does that if I remember correctly, and Dorian Gray (2009) too.
Just last night I watched Mildred Pierce.
Casino starts with a car explosion, then goes back to show how the character in the car got there.
Similarly, Gandhi begins with Gandhi’s assassination.
This is a pretty common device. See also the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
IIRC, the Hudsucker Proxy starts near the end, with Norville on the ledge, and then explains how he got there.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t Fallen start at the end? It’s been a while since I’ve seen it, and I know it opens with Denzel saying something like,
“This is the story of the time I almost died,” and I think it’s also the same shot as at the end, with him crawling through the woods at night…I can’t quite remember.
And not a movie (though the story and acting could qualify it for one,) but the videogame Uncharted 2 starts about halfway through the story.
The Man Who Would Be King.
A League of Their Own starts with Dottie making the trip to Cooperstown and entering the museum grounds.
Ooh, thanks for reminding me! Gene Wilder on a ledge is at the beginning of The Woman in Red, and the movie is the story of the events that got him there.
Both versions of Unfaithfully Yours also open in media res.
Ratatouille opens with a scene that requires backtrack to explain it.
And I didn’t see Titanic, but I understand that it begins with Rose on her deathbed.
And speaking of beds, Edward Scissorhands begins with an aged Kim tucking her granddaughter into one.
Little Big Man starts about 90 years after the beginning of it’s story.
A Soldier’s Story starts out with a murder, then an investigation, but the rest of the movie is in flashbacks.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was all flashbacks too.
Saving Private Ryan
If we’re allowed TV shows, *Seinfeld *usually started and ended with the star delivering his stand-up routine, and in the middle were the events that inspired the routine.
And the entire run of Lost, of course.
Don’t forget the entire run came full circle.