After three idiosyncratic shorts, Hartley, whose blue-collar background was to inform his highly economical approach to production, convinced his employers to fund his first feature. "The Unbelievable Truth" (1989), made for just $75,000, dealt with suburban morality and was hailed as signalling a new wave in indie filmmaking. It also begat an alliance with Michael Spiller whose crisp visuals decorate Hartley's work today.
Hartley's "Trust" (1990) retained an interest in the formal possibilities of the medium as well as a Godardian narrative ellipticism (Bresson and Wenders are other influences), the story of a doomed relationship between two headstrong youngsters solidified Hartley's reputation as a witty, playful auteur with a talent for snappy dialogue.
"Theory Of Achievement", "Ambition" and "Surviving Desire" (three shorts -1991) followed before 1992's "Simple Men", the story of two brothers trying to track down their terrorist father. As usual, the realistic yet, non-naturalistic ambience of "Simple Men" was complemented by the evocative score, courtesy of Ned Rifle, Hartleys ever-present pseudonym.
"Amateur" (1984) was the first time Hartley worked on a larger canvas and with a bona-fide star in Isabelle Huppert as a former nun mixed up in a world of pornography and violence. Owing much to the thriller genre, "Amateur" still stands as Hartley's most commercially successful film. "Flirt" (1995) was an experimental work set in New York, Berlin and Tokyo, which in a Kieslowskian manner told the same story of sexual subterfuge to differing outcomes.
"Henry Fool" (1998) won a Screenplay award at Cannes. A more grittily realistic work, the relative departure was not entirely successful, but 1999's millennial angst-ridden PJ Harvey-starrer "The Book Of Life" (1998) was a welcome return to form and favour.
Since then Hartley has withdrawn, choosing to concentrate on ever more experimental work. The upcoming "Monster", the story of an Icelandic creature fed up with his lot is a fascinating prospect and one which, his many admirers await with mounting fascination.
