Lapse of Memory (1992)

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Director:

Patrick Dewolf

Writers:

Robert Cormier (novel)
Patrick Dewolf (writer) ...

Release Date:

8 January 1992 (France)

Genre:

Romance | Thriller

Plot:

After a terrible accident, a psychatrist has to help Bruce to regain his memory. In flashbacks we learn...

Plot Keywords:

Witness Protection | Amnesia | Based On Novel | Independent Film

Cast

John Hurt	...	Conrad Farmer
Marthe Keller	...	Linda Farmer (Marie Carson)
Mathew Mackay	...	Bruce Farmer (Bruce Carson)
Kathleen Robertson	...	Patrick (Melody)
Marion Peterson	...	Dr. Lauren Brint
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jude Beny
Serge Dupire	...	Scott
Terry Haig
Gordon Masten
Michael McGill
Bob Watson Barr	...	Sheldon

Also Known As:

Mémoire traquée (Canada: French title)

Runtime:

85 min

Country:

Canada | France

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

UK:PG

Filming Locations:

Canada

Company:

France 3 Cinéma

Goofs:

Continuity: When the psychiatrist goes swimming, her hair is in/not in her face between shots.

Lapse of collective American memory?

France sometimes goes wild about American films-- but not the same ones which are blockbusters here. When I visited Paris in January 1992, the Metro stations were full of posters for My Own Private Idaho, Little Man Tate (Le Petit Homme) and this film, which I seem to recall was entitled "Traque de Memoire." I loved it.

When the teenage boy first discovers that his parents are not who they appear to be, he becomes very paranoid, fearing that they are Soviet spies, and that they know he knows, and that they are going to protect themselves by killing him. Can you imagine the suspense of not being able to trust your own parents to let you live another day? This fear comes to a head during a harrowing canoe trip down some rapids. In terror that this is the time when his father has planned to murder him and make it look like an accident, he panics, only to put himself in even greater danger through his own actions. The father must rescue him, at so much risk to his own life as to prove the absurdity of the son's fears. The reconciling, reassuring realization comes at the top of a beautiful but deadly waterfall. It is an exhilarating moment, a worthy climax to any film. But this film is just getting warmed up. There is much more to come.

After returning to the U.S. I searched reference books and asked anyone I thought might know about this film. Nothing. No one had seen it. No one had heard of the plot. No one knew of a film in which John Hurt played a father who had taken his whole family into hiding. It was like having been in Twilight Zone.

It is quite sad that such a well-done thriller, just because it is a Canadian production and takes place in Canada, should be unheard of in the English-speaking country next door.

And it still seems unobtainable here.

But thanks to the power of IMDB searching, at least we can know that it really exists and isn't just a dream one had one night.