That’s some real-life eternal Groundhog Day stuff right there. Hellish :(
> Today, he only knows that there is a problem because he and his wife have written detailed notes on his smartphone, in a file labelled “First thing – read this”.
This is more positive, and reminds me of the movie 50 First Dates with Adam Sandler.
Also, am glad to hear he has someone in his life that is by his side.
In Memento, Leonard also wakes up each day to the "same" day because he (arguably) has anterograde amnesia and cannot form new memories. He keeps tracks of new developments he wants to remember by writing on his own body and on the backs of polaroids (a bit like writing a note with his smartphone! Memento was filmed in 2000, and smartphones didn't exist yet).
e: I forgot, in the movie she has a fictitious disease that's sort of like ante-retrograde amnesia, but wipes her memory when she sleeps.
I think the main difference sounds like... is 50 first dates involves someone else writing things down and using a VCR for when the Amnesia victim wakes up. Friends, family do the "heavy lifting".
Sounds like Memento is self descriptions? Doesn't sound like there's anyone else to write things down for him.
Memento was 2000. 50 first dates was 2004. So they are more comparable than someone with a smartphone - obviously.
But it sounds like the smart phone plot item is more of a twist on doing stuff for yourself - IE Memento.
Whether the notes and the character's understanding of his situation are accurate is the main gist of the movie (and as its tagline says: "some memories are best forgotten"). I can't recommend it enough: it's a great movie with some excellent acting, and it manages to be both cerebral and emotional.
There's a scene that starts with Leonard in a hotel room, sitting on a closed toilet, fully clothed, with a bottle of alcohol in his hands. He wonders why is he sitting there and if he's drunk. He then takes a shower. Because he doesn't know why he's in the hotel, he doesn't know why he's in the bathroom, etc. He literally forgot he broke into the room to ambush a guy as he was doing it.
Whereas in 50 First Dates, it is how you described. Lucy replays the same day, she resets when she sleeps. But during the day, she can recall what happens. She can tell you what she had for breakfast, where she got her pineapple, who she met, etc.
That scene you describe is brilliant, I still remember the monologue: "I don't... feel drunk".
It also gives a nice twist on a noir murder mystery. Because the story starts with a murder, then instead of making us guess who did it, it makes us figure out why he did it. With every step giving another piece to that puzzle. So the mystery unfolds linearly while the narrative goes both backwards and forwards to meet back at the beginning of the movie.
While I haven't watched Dunkirk or Tenet yet, Memento remains my favorite Christopher Nolan film.
Hard to decide who has it more hellishly. Can you imagine having a partner who will forget every single new experience you ever share together. Can you even be said to have a relationship in any meaningful sense then?
This one was wildly popular in Europe, earlier models had similar functionalities: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Ericsson_K750
Short term versus long term memories is one distinction (and seems intuitive), but you'll see things like selective long term memory loss - they might forget where they've lived for 10 years, but remember people they met back then.
It's really fascinating as it gives some insights into how memory is organized and stored within the brain. Things that you'd imagine are processed the same (what your home looks like versus your spouse's face), are actually very different memories and handled in different parts of the brain.