Amnesia and memory loss have plagued characters in many films - the search for identity is a great driver of plot. Here's a round-up up 10 movies that involve at least some slippage of the mind.
Spellbound (1945)
This classic thriller is the story of a gorgeous psychiatrist (Ingrid Bergman) in love with a mysterious man (Gregory Peck), despite the fact that he may be a psychotic killer with amnesia masquerading as the new director of the asylum where she works. Just another plot from the twisted mind of Alfred Hitchcock.
RoboCop (1987)
In director Paul Verhoeven's first Hollywood hit, murdered police officer Alex Murphy doesn't get to enjoy the thrill of becoming a bionic man, as all his memories are wiped out before the transformation. As amnesiacs in movies tend to do, he seeks out his past, and when a few memories come back - Kodak moments with his wife and kids - it's like he's watching them from behind a video display (which is how some modern-day camcorder-obsessed parents remember their kids anyway).
Total Recall (1990)
Verhoeven screws with his star's head again, this time casting Arnold Schwarzenegger as a man who can't remember which of his memories are the real ones, which are implanted, and who might or might not be a spy fighting a corrupt leader on Mars. In a mind-warping plot, the most memorable moment may have been Sharon Stone's demonstration of the femme fatale tricks she has up her sleeve. In one scene, she attempts to strangle the future governator between her thighs.
Regarding Henry (1991)
Harrison Ford plays a lawyer who, after being shot in the head and chest, awakes with no memory of who he is. Despite not recognizing his family, he eventually forms a closer relationship with them than he had before, the moral being that, under the right circumstances, lawyers can be good people too.
The English Patient (1996)
Proving that recovering one's lost memory is not always a good thing, this Academy Award-winning adaptation of Michael Ondaatje's book tells of a bandaged man (Ralph Fiennes) who slowly comes to remember his tragic love affair and his actions that caused poor Willem Dafoe to be dethumbed.
Memento (2000)
Writer and director Christopher Nolan's breakout film stars Guy Pearce as an amnesiac who is hunting his wife's killer. Unconventionally structured so that the plot unfolds backwards, the film was lauded by some critics as a formal masterpiece. Less enamoured viewers argued that it was just a subpar movie that goes backwards.
Dude, Where's My Car? (2000)
Odds are that half a century from now, Ashton Kutcher will be remembered for two things: that he was Mr. Demi Moore, and that he co-starred in this wacky comedy about two friends who suffer from pot-induced amnesia. Dude, where's my career?
Mulholland Dr. (2001)
In David Lynch's tale of the dark side of Hollywood, a woman injured in a car accident struggles to make sense of who she is and what's going on, basic questions that, coincidentally, audiences often find themselves asking while watching David Lynch films.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
This was a breakthrough year for "amnesia-date movies." The first had Jim Carrey as a man so distraught by his break-up that he hires a company to erase his memory of it. Then he falls in love again.
50 First Dates (2004)
Following Eternal Sunshine was this romantic comedy in which Adam Sandler falls for a girl who can't remember anything each morning when she wakes up. As if picking up a babe like Drew Barrymore isn't difficult enough.