Watching The Matrix for the first time is a one-shot deal. A cinema chain in the Netherlands thinks a hypnotist can get you a second shot at seeing it for the first time…again.
Pathé is attempting exactly that on November 9 at its Buitenhof theater in The Hague. The experiment, called REWIND, will involve 30 movie fans and hypnotherapist Victor Kraemer, who’s been practicing for over 30 years. Participants will have individual online hypnosis sessions, followed by another session immediately before the screening.
The movie will be one of four: The Matrix, Se7en, La La Land, or Interstellar. Pathé will choose based on participants’ preferences, with the hope that hypnosis can make a familiar movie feel brand new.
“Who wouldn’t want to see their favorite film again for the very first time?” Pathé spokesperson Imke van Schaaijk said. Quite a few people would probably sign up for that. Whether they’ll forget anything is another question. Pathé hasn’t promised it’ll work, and there’s no established method for erasing someone’s memory of an entire movie.
Want to Watch Your Favorite Movie for the First Time Again? This Theater Thinks Hypnosis Can Help.
There is, however, some interesting research on the subject. A 2008 study published in Neuron had participants watch a film and return a week later for hypnosis. People who were highly susceptible to posthypnotic amnesia recalled fewer details after being told to forget what they’d watched. Once researchers gave them a cue to remember, their recall improved.
No one actually forgot the movie. The hypnosis temporarily made certain details harder to recall, and only among people who were especially responsive to it. Whether that would work on someone who’s watched Interstellar half a dozen times is another question.
There’s also research suggesting that knowing a movie’s ending isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Psychologists Nicholas Christenfeld and Jonathan Leavitt at UC San Diego found that people enjoyed short stories more when the endings were revealed beforehand. Their experiments involved written fiction, but the findings raise an interesting question about why we love rewatching movies in the first place.
After all, knowing what’s coming gives you a chance to appreciate details you missed the first time.
Pathé’s experiment might work for some participants, or everyone could spend an evening watching a movie they already know by heart. Either way, if Se7en wins the vote, somebody in The Hague is going to spend two hours hoping they’ve forgotten what’s in that box.
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