The Best Movies About Memory Manipulation
List of the best movies about memory manipulation, as ranked by movie fans and critics. Memory is a very powerful thing. It controls how we feel about ourselves and others. So when somebody has the power to manipulate a person’s memory, they have the power to control their thoughts and how they act around others. It’s a power that can be abused and end up hurting people greatly. That’s why memory manipulation is an interesting concept for a film.Characters who can manipulate memories are fascinating villains, while those who have been implanted with false memories are dangerous because there’s no telling who they are really.
The movies on this list feature characters that don’t know anything is wrong with their memories, those who are fighting to understand why their memories seem wrong, and even those who are manipulating their own minds,like in Memento. In movies like Inception, it’s the main characters who are doing the mind manipulation. In other films, like Overboard, characters are abusing somebody’s amnesia for personal gain.
What are the best movies about memory manipulation or false memories? This list features the best movies where characters cannot trust what they remember and those who enjoy messing with other’s memories.
- Guy Pearce, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano
- Released: 2000
- Directed by: Christopher Nolan
Leonard (Guy Pearce) is tracking down the man who raped and murdered his wife. The difficulty, however, of locating his wife's killer is compounded by the fact that he suffers from a rare, ...more - Matt Damon, Franka Potente, Chris Cooper
- Released: 2002
- Directed by: Doug Liman
The story of a man (Matt Damon), salvaged, near death, from the ocean by an Italian fishing boat. When he recuperates, the man suffers from total amnesia, without identity or background... except for ...more - Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young
- Released: 1982
- Directed by: Ridley Scott
Deckard (Harrison Ford) is forced by the police Boss (M. Emmet Walsh) to continue his old job as Replicant Hunter. His assignment: eliminate four escaped Replicants from the colonies who have ...more - Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rachel Ticotin, Sharon Stone
- Released: 1990
- Directed by: Paul Verhoeven
Douglas Quaid (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is a bored construction worker in the year 2084 who dreams of visiting the colonized Mars. He visits "Rekall," a company that plants false memories into people's ...more - Rufus Sewell, Kiefer Sutherland, Jennifer Connelly
- Released: 1998
- Directed by: Alex Proyas
John Murdoch (Rufus Sewell) awakens alone in a strange hotel to find that he is wanted for a series of brutal murders. The problem is that he can't remember whether he committed the murders or not. ...more - Goldie Hawn, Kurt Russell, Edward Herrmann
- Released: 1987
- Directed by: Garry Marshall
Snobbish and wealthy Joanna Stayton (Goldie Hawn) is living a life of leisure with her husband, Grant (Edward Herrmann), when she falls off their yacht and suffers amnesia. Grant takes the ...more - Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Elliot Page
- Released: 2010
- Directed by: Christopher Nolan
Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a thief with the rare ability to enter people's dreams and steal their secrets from their subconscious. His skill has made him a hot commodity in the world of ...more - Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley
- Released: 2010
- Directed by: Martin Scorsese
The implausible escape of a brilliant murderess brings U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his new partner (Mark Ruffalo) to Ashecliffe Hospital, a fortress-like insane asylum located ...more - Tommy Lee Jones, Will Smith, Linda Fiorentino
- Released: 1997
- Directed by: Barry Sonnenfeld
They are the best-kept secret in the universe. Working for a highly funded yet unofficial government agency, Kay (Tommy Lee Jones) and Jay (Will Smith) are the Men in Black, providers of immigration ...more - Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Kirsten Dunst
- Released: 2004
- Directed by: Michel Gondry
After a painful breakup, Clementine (Kate Winslet) undergoes a procedure to erase memories of her former boyfriend Joel (Jim Carrey) from her mind. When Joel discovers that Clementine is going to ...more - Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore, Rob Schneider
- Released: 2004
- Directed by: Peter Segal
Playboy vet Henry sets his heart on romancing Lucy, but she has short-term memory loss; she can't remember anything that happened the day before. So every morning, Henry has to woo her again. Her ...more - Ben Affleck, Aaron Eckhart, Uma Thurman
- Released: 2003
- Directed by: John Woo
Michael Jennings (Ben Affleck) is a top-notch reverse engineer. Corporations pay him to crack the secrets of their competitors' products. When the job is done, he has his memory of it erased. ...more - Ashton Kutcher, Amy Smart, Eric Stoltz
- Released: 2004
- Directed by: Eric Bress, J. Mackye Gruber
College student Evan Treborn (Ashton Kutcher) is afflicted with headaches so painful that he frequently blacks out. While unconscious, Evan is able to travel back in time to difficult moments in his ...more - Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, Janet Leigh
- Released: 1962
- Directed by: John Frankenheimer
Near the end of the Korean War, a platoon of U.S. soldiers is captured by communists and brainwashed. Following the war, the platoon is returned home, and Sergeant Raymond Shaw (Laurence Harvey) is ...more - Julianne Moore, Dominic West, Gary Sinise
- Released: 2004
- Directed by: Joseph Ruben
In "The Forgotten," Julianne Moore stars as Telly Paretta, a grieving mother struggling to cope with the loss of her 8-year-old son. She is stunned when her psychiatrist (Gary Sinise) reveals that ...more - Sam Rockwell, Dominique McElligott, Kaya Scodelario
- Released: 2009
- Directed by: Duncan Jones
Astronaut Sam Bell's (Sam Rockwell) three-year shift at a lunar mine is finally coming to an end, and he's looking forward to his reunion with his wife (Dominique McElligott) and young daughter. ...more - Ewan McGregor, Scarlett Johansson, Djimon Hounsou
- Released: 2005
- Directed by: Michael Bay
In 2019 a mercenary (Djimon Hounsou) pursues two clones (Ewan McGregor, Scarlett Johansson) who escaped from a research facility after learning their true fate. - Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger, January Jones
- Released: 2011
- Directed by: Jaume Collet-Serra
After a serious car accident in Berlin, Dr. Martin Harris (Liam Neeson) awakes to find his world in utter chaos. His wife (January Jones) does not recognize him; another man is using his identity, ...more - Dennis Quaid, Ben Foster, Cam Gigandet
- Released: 2009
- Directed by: Christian Alvart
Astronauts Payton (Dennis Quaid) and Bower (Ben Foster) awake in a hypersleep chamber with no memory of who they are or what their mission might be. While Payton stays behind to monitor the radio ...more - Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jude Law, Willem Dafoe
- Released: 1999
- Directed by: David Cronenberg
Video game designer Allegra Geller (Jennifer Jason Leigh) has created a virtual reality game called eXistenZ. After a crazed fan attempts to kill her, Allegra goes on the run with Ted (Jude Law), a ...more - Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel
- Released: 2012
- Directed by: Len Wiseman
In need of a vacation from his ordinary life, factory worker Douglas Quaid (Colin Farrell) visits Rekall, a company that can turn dreams into real memories. Thinking that memories of life as a ...more - Denzel Washington, Meryl Streep, Liev Schreiber
- Released: 2004
- Directed by: Jonathan Demme
Years after his squad was ambushed during the Gulf War, Major Ben Marco (Denzel Washington) finds himself having terrible nightmares. He begins to doubt that his fellow squad-mate Sergeant Raymond ...more - Jennifer Lopez, Vince Vaughn, Vincent D'Onofrio
- Released: 2000
- Directed by: Tarsem
"The Cell" takes a shocking, riveting mind trip into the dark and dangerous corridors of a serial killer's psyche -- a psyche that holds the key to saving the killer's final, trapped victim who ...more - Brenda Song, Mike Vogel, Dennis Haysbert
- Released: 2019
- Directed by: Peter Sullivan
A woman remains in danger as she returns to a life she cannot remember. - Christopher Plummer, Bruce Greenwood, Charles Aznavour
- Released: 2002
- Directed by: Atom Egoyan
Ararat is a 2002 Franco-Canadian drama historical film written and directed by Atom Egoyan and starring Charles Aznavour, Christopher Plummer, David Alpay, Arsinée Khanjian, Eric Bogosian, Bruce ...more