![]() ![]() Dramatic shipwrecks result in amnesia in at least three films ( A Modern Cain, 1921 The White Pearl, 1915 The New Adventures of Black Beauty, 1992), and in a cautionary tale for aspiring surgeons everywhere, in Dangerous Intrigue (1936) the shock of (unavoidable) professional failure is enough to cause a brilliant young surgeon to lose his identity. Murdering is not a picnic, however, and the killers themselves can also become amnesic if it all gets unexpectedly messy or the killer suffers a powerful attack of conscience (see Garden of Lies, 1915 Snapdragon, 1993 and Insaniac, 2002). Some movies fully embrace a psychological basis for a loss of identity when their characters become amnesic after they witness a traumatic event, such as the murder of a husband (see L'Assassino e al Telefono, 1972) or mother (see Hellhole, 1985). In The Bourne Identity and again in The Bourne Supremacy (shown here), Jason Bourne struggles with amnesia, which, according to Hollywood, is something of an occupational hazard for professional assassins So when Santa falls from his sleigh and loses his identity in Santa Who? (2000) the medically astute viewer may suspect a psychiatric rather than a neurological basis for his profound amnesia. ![]() Although post-traumatic amnesia is common in survivors of road crashes and assaults in the real world, the profound loss of identity and autobiographical knowledge repeatedly portrayed at the movies is unrealistic. Road traffic crashes and assault are the most common causes for amnesia in movie characters. These factors are overlooked at the movies in favour of the much more dramatic head injury. The most profound amnesic syndromes usually develop as a result of neurosurgery, brain infection, or a stroke. These distinctions, which in a medical setting are critical in terms of prognosis and treatment, are often blurred at the movies. The most commonly agreed features of organic amnesic syndromes include normal intelligence and attention span, with severe and permanent difficulties in taking in new information. True dissociative amnesia or fugue states are rare, but people with such conditions are able to learn new information and perform everyday tasks in the context of a profound retrograde amnesia triggered by a traumatic event. When all explanations are finally given – and bolster yourself for a huge info dump in its dying minutes – Amnesiac proves itself to be nothing more than anaemic.In the real world, most profound amnesic syndromes have a clear neurological or psychiatric basis. Her affectation of reciting pub quiz trivia is equally annoying. The woman is a deliberate enigma upon which the film centres its entire story, but aside from flashes of violence – she really dislikes her postman – there’s little to encourage us wanting to crack her code. ![]() Bosworth’s constant whispering of her lines does nothing to enliven proceedings, and Bentley flip flops between tired and confused. Amnesiac is a long, drawn out affair it’s so slow in reaching its conclusion that an almost meditative calm envelopes the audience, lulling them into a form of apathy. ![]() The problem comes largely from the pacing. Instead, what we have struggles to entice or encourage continued watching. We have a mystery to solve, an even more mysterious blonde in the form of Kate Bosworth, and a dark haired, steely jawed hero in Wes Bentley. Remembering that a young girl was in the car, he tries to piece together the mystery.Īmnesiac is the kind of film to which the term “Hitchcockian” could be safely applied. As his strength returns, the man begins to suspect that the woman is not all that she claims to be. Claiming to be his wife, the woman nurses him in her palatial house, but keeps him on a short leash, restricting his access to certain rooms. An unnamed man (Wes Bentley) wakes up after a car accident to find himself being cared for by a woman (Kate Bosworth) that he has no memory of. ![]()
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