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The Forgotten

The Forgotten

Thriller · Mystery · Science Fiction · 2004

Telly Paretta is a grieving mother struggling to cope with the loss of her 9-year-old son. She is stunned when her psychiatrist reveals that she has created nine years of memories about a son she never had. But when she remembers a man who had a similar experience, Telly embarks on a search to prove her son's existence, and her sanity.

Movie details

The Forgotten

“Everything you've experienced, everything you've known... never happened.”

2004 Thriller · Mystery · Science Fiction 1h 31m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

5.8 / 10

70.1K votes

Rotten Tomatoes

31 %

Tomatometer

Metacritic

43 / 100

Metascore

TMDB

5.9 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

Telly Paretta is a grieving mother struggling to cope with the loss of her 9-year-old son. She is stunned when her psychiatrist reveals that she has created nine years of memories about a son she never had. But when she remembers a man who had a similar experience, Telly embarks on a search to prove her son's existence, and her sanity.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over The Forgotten?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Joseph Ruben

Written by

Gerald Di Pego

Julianne Moore

Julianne Moore

Telly Paretta

Dominic West

Dominic West

Ash Correll

Gary Sinise

Gary Sinise

Dr. Munce

Anthony Edwards

Anthony Edwards

Jim Paretta

Alfre Woodard

Alfre Woodard

Det. Anne Pope

Linus Roache

Linus Roache

A Friendly Man

Robert Wisdom

Robert Wisdom

Carl Dayton

Court is in session

Put The Forgotten on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Arthouse Gremlin

“Its refusal to behave is the point.”

The strange choices create the kind of friction that follows you out of the theatre and into the argument.

The prosecution The Prestige Tourist

“Oddness is not depth.”

A film can break every rule and still leave nothing behind but the memory of how hard it tried to be singular.