Protagonist Telly Paretta has not been able to get over the loss of her eight year old son, Sam, in a plane crash fourteen months previously. Each day she spends hours looking at pictures of him or watching a video of him; her psychiatrist advises her not to but she does anyway. Then one day she finds the photos have gone and the video has been deleted; she confronts her husband but he tells her that he hasn't done anything
not just that he tells her there never were any pictures of her son as he had been still born and all her memories are false; part of a condition. She is convinced that he is lying but everybody else she asks has no knowledge of Sam. Her one hope is Ash Correll, the father of a girl who also died in the crash
except he has no memory of any of it either. He lets her spend the night in his flat but calls the police in the morning. Strangely as they are taking her away a pair of NSA agents turn up and take her from the police
not what one would expect given what we have seen before. At this point the things she said to Ash get through and he realises that he somehow forgot his daughter. He helps Telly escape and together the two of them determine to find out what happened to their children; it won't be easy though as powerful forces are determined to stop them.
When I watched this film I knew almost nothing about it; just the blurb on the back of the box. I think this served to make the film far more enjoyable that it would have been if I knew much more. Early on I was unsure whether Telly was sane or not and when it became apparent that she probably was sane and that her child had existed I still had no idea what had happened was the cause some sinister agency, science-fiction, supernatural or something else altogether? Inevitably there are some cliché when the truth is discovered but they weren't enough to spoil my enjoyment of the film as the ultimate resolution isn't too obvious. Julianne Moore does a great job as Telly, a lesser actress could have made the character to melodramatic. She is ably supported by Dominic West as Ash and Gary Sinise as her psychiatrist amongst others. Overall I'd recommend this but try to avoid spoilers before watching as not knowing the nature of what was happening made the film better for me.
When I watched this film I knew almost nothing about it; just the blurb on the back of the box. I think this served to make the film far more enjoyable that it would have been if I knew much more. Early on I was unsure whether Telly was sane or not and when it became apparent that she probably was sane and that her child had existed I still had no idea what had happened was the cause some sinister agency, science-fiction, supernatural or something else altogether? Inevitably there are some cliché when the truth is discovered but they weren't enough to spoil my enjoyment of the film as the ultimate resolution isn't too obvious. Julianne Moore does a great job as Telly, a lesser actress could have made the character to melodramatic. She is ably supported by Dominic West as Ash and Gary Sinise as her psychiatrist amongst others. Overall I'd recommend this but try to avoid spoilers before watching as not knowing the nature of what was happening made the film better for me.