The Forgotten parents guide

The Forgotten Parent Guide

Overall B

Nearly 14 months ago, Telly Paretta (Julianne Moore) lost her son Sam (Christopher Kovaleski) in a plane crash. Although her grief is almost unbearable, the situation gets worst when her husband Jim (Anthony Edwards) and her psychiatrist, Dr. Jack Munce (Gary Sinise) tell her she was never a mother and that the memories of her child are all a delusion.

Release date September 23, 2004

Violence C+
Sexual Content A-
Profanity C-
Substance Use C

Why is The Forgotten rated PG-13? The MPAA rated The Forgotten PG-13 for intense thematic material, some violence and brief language

Run Time: 91 minutes

Parent Movie Review

We all have days when the memory slips and little specifics elude us, like where we left the car keys or put our glasses. But imagine if the big details of life, like the existence of your children or marriage, came into question.

For Telly Paretta (Julianne Moore), this dilemma is becoming nightmarishly real.

Nearly 14 months ago, she and her husband Jim (Anthony Edwards) lost their son Sam (Christopher Kovaleski) in a plane crash that killed several elementary-aged children. Still painfully grieving, she struggles everyday to cope with his death by going through his childhood mementos.

Then one day, Sam’s photo albums are blank. His videotapes erased. His smiling face missing from their family portrait.

And she is told he never existed.

Her psychiatrist, Dr. Jack Munce (Gary Sinise), calls it invented memories and tells her that the son she knew and loved for nine years was only the creation of her mind. Initially, she fears she’s going mad, yet she refuses to agree with the doctor’s diagnosis.

Instead, she hunts down another parent who lost his daughter in the plane accident. Together, Telly and Ash Correll (Dominic West) elicit the help of New York police detective Anne Pope (Alfre Woodard) and begin searching for their missing children. But it soon becomes obvious that someone out there doesn’t want them poking around.

This psychological thriller brings out the nagging little fear almost every parent has about losing his or her child. It also depicts the ravaging effect grief has on the stability of the couple’s marriage and on Telly’s relationships with her old friends and neighbors.

Fortunately, Telly, if anything, is a tenacious parent. Driven to find an answer, she is willing to go to any length to discover what happened to her son on the fateful day of the incident. It’s this kind of doggedness most parents can relate to and that makes The Forgotten a possibility, for a good Mom and Dad date.

Even older teenagers may enjoy the movie’s mind games, if they can deal with this film’s intense “jump-in-your-seat” scenes and a terrifying car crash. However, parents should note this PG-13 film includes the brutal beating of a national security agent, repeated terms of Deity, the use of a strong sexual expletive and portrayals of drunkenness.

With an unexpected twist from suspense to sci-fi, this is one chilling story that won’t soon be forgotten.

Starring Julianne Moore, Christopher Kovaleski. Running time: 91 minutes. Theatrical release September 23, 2004. Updated

The Forgotten Parents' Guide

Do you think fathers have the same kind of bond with their children as mothers? Would it be easier for a father to forget his child than a mother? What does this film’s ending say about the bonding process between a mother and child?

In this film, how did the parents deal differently with their grief?

What part do memories play in our life? How does a person change when certain memories are lost through injury or disease? Can fictional memories be created in a person’s mind?

Home Video

The most recent home video release of The Forgotten movie is January 17, 2005. Here are some details…

Related home video titles:

Alfre Woodard plays a young mother who tries to get her life back on track by spending the summer with her uncleDown in the Delta . A single father struggles to overcome his addictions and get his children back in the filmEvelyn . A young boy develops a strong bond with his two eccentric uncles after his inattentive mother leaves him with them for the summer in Secondhand Lions.