Sartaj Singh
With Amy Barrett at the helm, ‘The Life I Can’t Remember’ follows the story of Emma, a woman who loses her memory after a mysterious accident. Upon waking up, she is helped by her psychologist husband, Dean, in settling back into a life she doesn’t remember. However, as her amnesia begins to give way, she starts to remember a different account of the memory-wiping accident than she has been presented. The Lifetime thriller movie narrates Emma’s journey into her own past in a suspenseful tale of vulnerability, paranoia, and deceit.
The Life I Can’t Remember is a Fictional Story of Amnesia and Manipulation
‘The Life I Can’t Remember’ is an original and fictional film penned by Robert Dean Klein, Jeffrey Schenck, and Peter Sullivan. The psychological thriller genre often focuses on the blurred line between memory, reality, and deceit, and the Lifetime movie explores these tensions in a way that feels emotionally grounded, even though the events are fictional. Furthermore, the film delves into themes of memory loss and manipulation, which are grounded in psychological concepts like amnesia, trauma, and gaslighting.
Amnesia, the primary plot device, is a real medical condition that affects individuals who lose parts of their memories due to varying reasons. It is often utilized in psychological thrillers to immerse us in the protagonist’s point of view. Both the main character and the audience start the story off on the same page, knowing close to little and slowly uncovering the truth together, keeping us invested in their journey. There are several notable films that make use of this plot device, including ‘Before I Go to Sleep,’ ‘Shattered,’ and even some Lifetime movies like ‘The Face I Can’t Forget.’
Parallels with Other Films: Shattered, Before I Go to Sleep, and The Face I Can’t Forget
‘Shattered’ is a psychological thriller based on Richard Neely’s 1971 novel, ‘Plastic Nightmare.’ The film centers on Dan Merrick, who loses his memory after a car accident and is cared for by his wife, Judith. He finds various discrepancies in the account presented of his past life and begins to dig deeper into shady business dealings and private investigation work he had been involved with. His search leads him on a journey full of stunning twists and turns revealing adultery, stolen identity, and murder. ‘The Life I Can’t Remember’ shares multiple similarities with ‘Shattered,’ from its premise to the involvement of the spouse in suspicious activities and a cover-up.
Based on S. J. Watson’s 2011 novel, ‘Before I Go to Sleep’ revolves around Christine (Nicole Kidman), a woman who loses her memory after a car accident. The situation becomes worse as she wakes up each day without any memories of the previous one, and her husband, Ben (Colin Firth), reorients her every time. As Christine begins to log her discoveries of her past life with each subsequent day, discrepancies between Ben’s account of events and resurfacing memories lead her to a shocking discovery. ‘The Life I Can’t Remember’ has a comparable premise, with Emma relying on her husband to help make sense of her lost past and subsequently embarking upon a revelatory journey of her own.
Lifetime’s ‘The Face I Can’t Forget’ is a fictional tale about an amnesiac woman who is left with only a few memories of her past life after a car accident. While her husband and daughter try to ease her back into a normal life, she continues to have visions of a second daughter being with her at the time of the accident. Like ‘The Life I Can’t Remember,’ all these thrillers make use of a potent plot device to create an inherently intriguing premise, slowly unveiling their stories full of twists and misdirections.
Read More: My Professor’s Deadly Secret: Is the Lifetime Movie Based on a True Story?
