‘The Vow’ and other films about amnesia often get it wrong

NEW YORK —

Imagine your life on a computer screen. All the plot points are there — the highs, lows, a wedding, perhaps a baby. Now highlight the last five years. Click delete.

That’s the premise of “The Vow,” a film premiering today, starring Rachel Mcadams as Paige, a woman who survives a terrifying auto accident but awakens from a coma with amnesia. She has no memory of the previous five years. Her new home, new hairstyle, new husband Leo (Channing Tatum) — all a blank. What’s worse, the last thing she does remember is being happily engaged. To Jeremy (Scott Speedman), a hotshot attorney, eager to make up for past wrongs.

“I feel like I’m getting a free do-over in life,” Paige says.

Inspired by true events, the movie is a love story at heart, but it’s also the latest in a long line of films propelled by memory loss. Profound amnesia is rare, but you wouldn’t think so given its frequent appearance on film and TV. “Memento,” “50 First Dates,” “The Bourne Identity,” even “Family Guy” and “Finding Nemo” have all tackled the issue. Many are satisfying. And medically inaccurate.

“Most amnesiac conditions in films bear little relation to reality,” writes Sallie Baxendale, a clinical neuropsychologist, in a 2004 review of amnesia movies in the British Medical Journal.

In reality, amnesia — either retrograde (an inability to recall past events, as in “The Vow”) or anterograde (new events) — can be triggered by various causes, including neurosurgery, stroke, emotional trauma and, of course, a conk on the head.

To be as accurate as possible, “Vow” director Michael Sucsy researched memory loss. Like many patients, Paige speaks hoarsely upon emerging from her coma (breathing tubes irritate the throat); she suffers headaches; she hears sounds louder than normal.

But Sucsy drew the line at depicting other learning deficits (which are typical) or shaving her head (standard, as doctors drill a hole into the skull of those who suffer brain swelling).

“It’s Hollywood, and we don’t want Rachel Mcadams with a shaved head,” says Sucsy. “It’s a movie — not a documentary.”

So what spurs our fascination?

“The do-over element,” Speedman suggests. “It’s fun to watch people get a second chance ... for better or worse.”

“We’re the sum of our experiences, and if you take that away, who are we?” Sucsy wonders.