Het Geheugenspel (2023) User Reviews

Plot twist in the last 15 minutes redeemed this mediocre movie somewhat.

[Renee_vdM · 6/10 · 21 August 2023]

In the initial segments of the film, it felt quite predictable to me. The characters were portrayed in a rather shallow manner and had predictable actions which is unfortunate but not entirely unexpected, given that it aligns with the style of the writer Nicci French, who authored the book upon which this movie is based. While some of the main characters do experience some development throughout the film, the same cannot be said for the supporting cast, as there are so many characters that they don't really get a chance to get the most out of it.

The unexpected plot twist at the end left me much more satisfied. Overall, I believe this movie met my expectations, provided entertainment, and had some genuinely thrilling moments, deserving a decent rating in my opinion.

Rushed Cluedo murder mystery that doesn't really stick in the memory thanks to the pace.

[movieman6-413-929510 · 4/10 · 17 May 2023]

The Memory Game is a new thriller directed and written by Lien Willaert and Jan Verheyen. Together they also directed and wrote the films Bittersweet Sixteen and Red Sandra. The film is based on the book by the writer couple Nicci French.

During a renovation, the body of the 25-year-old missing Nathalie is found on the estate of the Deridder family. This find answers the question of where the missing Nathalie was all along, but now brings new questions about what exactly happened to her.

Nathalie's best friend Eva Ruttenberg (Anna Drijver) is now trying, just like the Deridder family, to remember what they remember from the day they last saw Nathalie. During these thought clearings, several family secrets emerge. Thus the known is now overshadowed with the secrets of the past.

This film quickly comes across as a kind of Cluedo game where the family and friends try to solve the murder case in order to identify a guilty party. As a viewer you try to play along and answer these questions yourself. Too much happens in a short time at a rapid pace, so you don't get all the information as clearly as possible. For example, you get a hurried introduction to the many different characters, not all of whom you get to know well. Sometimes it seems to the viewers through the various flashbacks. This can make the murder mystery a bit predictable at times.

Thanks to the hurried pace at which the story is told, the scriptwriter seems to have overlooked some details. For example, characters can't remember anything at first, but then all their memories suddenly come back. Many other Nicci French book adaptations have been made into TV miniseries, such as Secret Smile. In this way, their stories can be conveyed more clearly. They probably should have done this better for this film adaptation, to keep the story clearer.

The acting is done nicely, but thanks to the amount of characters, not every actor gets equal opportunities to do something special with their roles. Anna Drijver does her best to carry the film as the main character, but sometimes plays her role a bit too exaggerated during dramatic scenes, which makes them less credible. Furthermore, her character is sometimes developed a bit separately, because for example she feels little emotion for her husband with whom she was married and has a son. On the other hand, she does show feelings towards his sister, who was her best friend.

The further mutual relationships between the various characters in the film also come across as characters from a soap opera. Many characters have many secrets and feelings for each other, but try to remain secretive about this from the rest of the family.

Straight to the point and thrilling till the end.

[myny-jeffrey · 10/10 · 18 August 2023]

Finally a Clue(do) movie that immediately spreads out the whole board, including the murder and all characters, yet keeps the thrill till the very end.

AND has zero clichés that could or would spill the tea.

It tells the story of a girl who was murdered 1 quarter of a century ago, yet wasn't found until the very first 5 minutes. The main character plays the best friend of the victim, yet has forgotten or erased every special detail needed to fullfil the investigation from her mind. After one of her colleagues suggest a hypnotherapist, she gets a splinter of a detail after each session.

And the best part of the movie is that only the necessary details of each character is given to us, while keeping the rest of most characters a mystery. Which avoids all prejudice until necessary.

Not for me

[blinkie1969 · 4/10 · 20 August 2023]

I read the book once, but it was so long ago that I can't remember anything about it. I saw that there were a lot of Belgians in the cast so I was hopeful. But, my god, how bad the Dutch act (I'm Dutch myself so I can say that) I really tried to watch but found Mrs Drijver's acting so cringeworthy that I couldn't watch it any longer. I haven't watched Dutch films for years. Always the same actors who can't all act. You used to have a handful of good actors but that was years ago now. So this trip to a movie with a Dutch actress was another wrong choice. So I don't have to do that anymore. And now i finally typed enough letters!

Childish wanna be sophisticated idiotic script

[satefan-66546 · 2/10 · 17 August 2023]

Good cinematic and pretty well played, but with a terrible script. In the first 5 minutes It already made me laugh with the first mistake. Eva went to her father in law's birthday party and when she got there and rang the bell, the butler was very surprised seeing Eva and went "oh, you came, I was pretty sure you won't come" invited her in and then "I prepared for you Nathalie's old room"!

Guess the party was in the weekend, but still, there was a team of workers digging in the garden in a project that Eva was the architect. She was very angry seeing them working, because they should start the next day, Sunday maybe! She went to fight with them and right then, they stop digging because they discover a body. Seeing a pair of panties, Eva remembered in an instant that those panties belonged to Nathalie.

The timeline is a bit messy. Nathalie disappeared in the summer of 1997. The narrative says 25 years ago. As the action goes on, the body was discovered in 2020, so 23 years, not 25. In 1997, Nathalie was 15. She was also pregnant (they found fetus bones), that means 3 month of pregnancy. Everything that happen in 1997, was during the summer, probably the longest Belgian summer! At a certain point, also summer, Nathalie was very angry with parents, because she just learned in school that a child should have the same blood type like at least one of the parents. She was B and both parents type O. Her mother tried to explain that she was eager to have a child and because her husband had lazy sperm, she went to fool around and she actually doesn't who Nathalie's father is. That means both Nathalie's brothers were younger than her. So at 14 when she was raped by her brother, he was 13!

By the time of the 1997 party, the day Nathalie disappeared, the parents were in a cruise! So they let alone to party, 3 kids of 15,14 and 13 (best case) with lots of friends, tents, drinks and love! Yet, with so many people around, Claude, the brother who raped Nathalie, manage during the short summer night, after killing her, to dig a huge whole and over it to build a huge nice brick barbecue. All this by a 14 years old in the dark, with a flashlight and of course, lots of experience in masonry!

Then it comes the part when a famous phycologist helps Eva to remember things that she wanted to forget when she was 15, like watching your best friend being murdered. What? Are you serious? Not even the killer can forget murdering someone. Sorry, to tired, got to go!