History Film / KnivesOut

* RashomonStyle: When the police interview Linda and she waxes lyrical about how close she was with her father, we see a flashback of the birthday cake with Linda and her husband at Harlan's side. When they interview Walt and he waxes lyrical, we see the same flashback, but this time ''Walt'' and his family are at his father's side. Clearly one or both are lying, but we never find out which one.

* FuneralBanishment: Harlan Thrombey was extremely close to his nurse Marta, to the point that [[spoiler:[[UnexpectedInheritence he named her as his sole inheritor]]]]. Despite this, when Harlan dies his surviving family doesn't invite her to the funeral, only allowing family members to attend. Humorously, most of the family members Marta talks to claim that she's "basically part of the family" and that they wanted to invite her but got [[BlatantLies "outvoted"]].

** Every family member is a shithead to some degree, but Jacob's Nazi views disgust everybody but his parents, and he is called both a Nazi and an "alt-right troll." Even Richard, who cheats on his wife and disparages anyone who tries to come into the country illegally (even dismissing the fact that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement puts immigrant children in cages) calls him a Nazi with clear contempt.

** Inverted by [[spoiler:Ransom. He was perfectly willing to kill Harlan to get his piece of the fortune, and even cunning enough to frame someone else for it.]]

* HalfwayPlotSwitch: Zig-zagged. The film begins as a straightforward whodunnit until we get a flashback that shows the circumstances of Harlan's death quite plainly, shifting the story from "who killed him?" to [[spoiler:"how can Harlan's kindhearted accidental murderer get away with it to protect her mother while facing pressure from becoming his surprise sole inheritor?"]] The story thus appears to switch from a mystery to a thriller dealing with the consequences of the mystery's answer...[[spoiler:until Blanc probes the question of who hired him and a blackmailer enters the picture, confirming that there is still a mystery going on, and layers that indicate foul play to be revealed.]]

** [[spoiler:Meg apologizes to Marta for her actions over the course of the film, but it's ambiguous how sincere she's being.]]

** Before that, Blanc to [[spoiler:Ransom "Why did you hire me?"]]

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: The initial interviews serve as this for most of the supporting cast (and for Blanc, who silently listens and plays a note on the piano when he hears something he deems important).

* ArcSymbol: Games.
** Linda mentions that she had to find a game in order to communicate with Harlan.
** Harlan comments that Ransome tended to treat life too much like a game.
** Marta, while playing Go with Harlan, says she doesn't play to win, but to find "a beautiful pattern".
** Lieutenant Elliot comments that the Thrombey estate looks like a Clue board.
** Blanc in the end tells Marta that she won, not by playing the game the Thrombeys' way but by playing the game her way.

** Characters often mention Marta as being an excellent nurse yet not following basic procedures of medication safety, namely checking to make sure she is drawing up the right medication. She also does not check her bag to confirm the naloxone (antidote) is present before giving the morphine [[spoiler:(though her poor judgment luckily ends up absolving her by the end).]]

** The setup, however, bears a notable resemblance to Theatre/BlackCoffee -- the wealthy, eccentric patriarch of a family has died, in a poisoning incident that seems to be an open and shut case against the main female lead.