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Research Notes
Research Notes
Research NotesResearch
I’ve talked with people who have met James/Matthew while he was in Montreal and had access to some of his letters and e-mails. I’ve collected every articles published (more than 40 in Canada, the United-Stats and England) and seen the TV news report about his story (more than 20, of which two were 20 minutes american programs with deeper coverage of the subject : Hard Copy and Frontline).
I’ve researched amnesia in general and more specific forms of it like dissociative amnesia and the fugue syndrome. I’ve also researched truth serum, hypnosis and the false memory syndrome.
Then, I made contact with Matt (James) – that’s how he signed his name at the time – who gave me his authorization to adapt his story into a film.
Our conversations about the last version of the script made me believe it reflected well the state of mind and the questioning he had about his experience, of which he still hasn’t solved the mystery, more than 5 years later.
He mentionned the dreams he had that would wake him up at night. The idea he had to try therapy to solve the mystery of the past he lost, a project he hadn’t pursued yet at the time because of some bat experiences that discouraged him or maybe also because, unconciously, he’s afraid to go there. About his natural family (the Honeycutts) which he hasn’t seen in three years, which he still doesn’t « remember » and to whom he really doesn’t identify with (he still has no memory of his life from his childhood until he dissapeared and reapeared in Montreal in 1998). Nevertheless, he still has attained a certain serenity in his new life, now that he has a job and a stable love life for more thant three years. He succeeded in recreating a life in the image of what he probably desired all along. But he remains anxious and wonder if he can live with this black hole within himself.
Adaptation
Even though I fictionalized a lot, especially with the intimate interactions between the characters – some of which are totally invented – I said from the start to Matthew/James that I would attend to be as close as possible to the facts and emotions I thought he lived in Montreal. I wanted to remain truthfull to what he lived because, as it was, his story fascinated me and moved me in a very personnal way, and that from the first time it was in the news. Within this frame, I still manage to put forward my usual preoccupations and themes : sexual identity, family, frienship, love, solitude and the feeling of being an outsider.
I’ve talked with people who have met James/Matthew while he was in Montreal and had access to some of his letters and e-mails. I’ve collected every articles published (more than 40 in Canada, the United-Stats and England) and seen the TV news report about his story (more than 20, of which two were 20 minutes american programs with deeper coverage of the subject : Hard Copy and Frontline).
I’ve researched amnesia in general and more specific forms of it like dissociative amnesia and the fugue syndrome. I’ve also researched truth serum, hypnosis and the false memory syndrome.
Then, I made contact with Matt (James) – that’s how he signed his name at the time – who gave me his authorization to adapt his story into a film.
Our conversations about the last version of the script made me believe it reflected well the state of mind and the questioning he had about his experience, of which he still hasn’t solved the mystery, more than 5 years later.
He mentionned the dreams he had that would wake him up at night. The idea he had to try therapy to solve the mystery of the past he lost, a project he hadn’t pursued yet at the time because of some bat experiences that discouraged him or maybe also because, unconciously, he’s afraid to go there. About his natural family (the Honeycutts) which he hasn’t seen in three years, which he still doesn’t « remember » and to whom he really doesn’t identify with (he still has no memory of his life from his childhood until he dissapeared and reapeared in Montreal in 1998). Nevertheless, he still has attained a certain serenity in his new life, now that he has a job and a stable love life for more thant three years. He succeeded in recreating a life in the image of what he probably desired all along. But he remains anxious and wonder if he can live with this black hole within himself.
Adaptation
Even though I fictionalized a lot, especially with the intimate interactions between the characters – some of which are totally invented – I said from the start to Matthew/James that I would attend to be as close as possible to the facts and emotions I thought he lived in Montreal. I wanted to remain truthfull to what he lived because, as it was, his story fascinated me and moved me in a very personnal way, and that from the first time it was in the news. Within this frame, I still manage to put forward my usual preoccupations and themes : sexual identity, family, frienship, love, solitude and the feeling of being an outsider.
