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Julianne Moore, Dominic West, Gary Sinise, Alfre Woodard, Linus Roache ... see more see more... , Robert Wisdom , Jessica Hecht , Anthony Edwards , Christopher Kovaleski , Matthew Pleszewicz

A grieving woman must make a journey into her past in this psychological thriller. Telly Paretta (Julianne Moore) is a mother who is struggling to put her life back together after the unexpected death... read more read more... of her eight-year-old son. Telly begins seeing a therapist (Gary Sinise) who offers a startling diagnosis -- that her son never really existed, and all her memories of the child are products of her imagination. When Telly meets a man with a strangely similar story to tell about his lost child (Dominic West), she becomes convinced that her doctor is wrong, and sets out to prove the existence of her child -- and that she isn't insane. The Forgotten also features Alfre Woodard and Anthony Edwards. An alternate ending exists to this film, which has been released on DVD and purportedly does a great deal to compensate for the story's weaknesses. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Flixster Users

47% liked it

166,710 ratings

Critics

30% liked it

169 critics

PG-13, 1 hr. 31 min.

Directed by: Joseph Ruben

Release Date: September 24, 2004

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DVD Release Date: January 18, 2005

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Stats: 6,048 reviews

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The Forgotten The Forgotten The Forgotten The Forgotten Telly (Julianne Moore) in her deceased son's room The Forgotten The Forgotten Telly (Julianne Moore) uncovers a secret in Ash Correll's apartment Anthony Edwards What's It All About...Alfre The Forgotten
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Flixster Reviews (6,048)

  • jmanard52
    May 11, 2008
    jmanard52
    A very twilight zonish plot with an interesting combination of twists and turns. Not bad not great.
  • moonrivers
    February 25, 2012
    moonrivers
    Julianne Moore is a mother who misses her dead son, which is normal ... until everyone she knows starts to tell her that she never had one. As the story shifts from psychological thriller into the unknown, the fantastic, well, it loses its way, but the actors are still good.
  • jamers2011
    August 28, 2011
    jamers2011
    I loved the first half...the pacing especially. The film follows a women who is grieving over the loss of her son, and then during that process, she's informed that her son didn't exist. The plot progressed nicely and was aided by the solid performances by Julianne Moore and Domi... read morenic West. Then there was sudden shift about 3/4's of the way through the film where it just all went down hill. The plot got really confusing, and then the ending was like...wtf. Overall, a decent and entertaining film, but I was slightly disappointed because I thought it had potential.
  • cosmo313
    August 27, 2011
    cosmo313
    Boy, this is an odd one. A psychological mystery thriller, this film is about a woman still grieving after the death of her son 14 months later, only for everyone around her to tell her that she never had a son and that she is delusional. Refusing to believe this, she sets out on... read more a quest to prove she's not crazy, and to figure out why there seems to be a conspiracy out there telling her things she refuses to believe are true.

    This film is a real head trip, and it has a very Twilight Zone or X Files vibe to it. This film has some neat ideas going on, but ultimately it feels really half-assed, and the way it is handled just makes it all seem more ridiculous than thought-provoking.

    On the plus side, it does have a great sense of mood, tone, and atmosphere, and the film is never boring. Plus, the film has a good cast, and their acting is good, so that helps. But still, the material needs some work, and it's unfortunate that this film comes off as more weird (in a bad way) and silly.

    See it if you want, if only for the way it is constructed and the performances, but don't expect the end result to be as brilliant or mind blowing as it could have been.
  • yona71
    August 20, 2011
    yona71
    As someone who loves Julianne Moore, I don't know how I missed this one.
    This film tells the tale of a mother(Julianne Moore) who loses her son and is struggling to put the pieces together as to how it happened. It is believed to be due to an airplane crash, but things don't quit... read moree seem to fit. No one knows what she's talking about including her husband(Anthony Edwards) and her therapist(Gary Sinise), so the psycholoical bounds are tested in the loss of a loved one. She is told again and again that her active imagination is making her believe she had a son that she feels to be an inherent part of her being.
    As events unfold, the so called truth of her son's existence becomes existent yet non-existent depending on how it is viewed. There inlays the intrigue that's either simply a figment of imagination or of a conspiracy of unknown proportions.
  • murphmann93
    June 23, 2011
    murphmann93
    Confusing at times but quite a good film of what I can remember!
  • BEACHBUNNI
    November 13, 2010
    BEACHBUNNI
    good acting i thought! a mad roller coaster~!
  • fb1463751009
    September 29, 2010
    fb1463751009
    I remember this movie was engaging, but it gets way too ridiculous at the end.
  • 3niR
    February 22, 2010
    3niR
    The ending was confusing. Did they remake the ending or something? Because there was two ending. One was when the mother could remember her son and the person who was testing them just flew away because he failed. And another one was he was there when the mother found her son in ... read morethe playground.
  • ScoopOnline
    December 7, 2009
    ScoopOnline
    It began so nice then somewhere in the middle of the Movie I got confused, everything went so fast and then this end. I Tiny bit feel I was bugged in the end. Did Ruben decided for different end as the Original one? Will never find out.

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Critic Reviews

Rex Reed
October 1, 2004
Rex Reed, New York Observer

Moore is too precious a commodity to fritter away her time and talent on a no-thrills thriller as bland and superficial as The Forgotten. Full Review

Richard Roeper
September 27, 2004
Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper

It's very manipulative, it's very maddening -- and yet I found it very entertaining. Full Review

Desson Thomson
September 24, 2004
Desson Thomson, Washington Post

Slightly predictable and dumb when all is said and done. Full Review

Ann Hornaday
September 24, 2004
Ann Hornaday, Washington Post

An uneasy mix between Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and the The X-Files, and one not nearly as smart as either. Full Review

Brian Lowry
September 24, 2004
Brian Lowry, Variety

Perhaps wisely leaves more questions than it answers and for the most part manages to maintain its suspense. Full Review

Geoff Pevere
September 24, 2004
Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star

It's the central casting of the remarkable Julianne Moore that gives the movie both a core and a heart, particularly when Di Pego's script starts making its way further and further out along the limb ... Full Review

Carla Meyer
September 24, 2004
Carla Meyer, San Francisco Chronicle

Never comes out from under the weight of its dreariness, despite fine acting, foot chases and conspiracy theories galore. Full Review

James Berardinelli
September 24, 2004
James Berardinelli, ReelViews

Has shocks and a solid performance, but no intelligence to go with them. Full Review

Jay Boyar
September 24, 2004
Jay Boyar, Orlando Sentinel

You could wind up with whiplash watching this film, and that's a compliment. Full Review

Stephen Whitty
September 24, 2004
Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger

The only mystery here, once the lights come up, is why these good people signed on to appear in this sad mistake. Full Review

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The Forgotten Trivia

  • Tagline: On September 24th everything you've experienced, everything you've known, never happened.  Answer »
  • ''I am nothing special; of this I am sure. I am a common man with common thoughts, and I've led a common life. There are no monuments dedicated to me and my name will soon be forgotten, but I've loved another with all my heart and soul, and to me, this has always been enough.'' What movie?  Answer »
  • Who starred in the movie 'The Forgotten' where she plays a grieving mother who questions her sanity as everyone else seems to have forgotten her son who died in a plane crash?  Answer »
  • In the Chronicles of Riddick, 4 people make it to the hangar on Crematoria. One was married; what is the "forgotten" name of his wife?  Answer »
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