A Dutch Cinema Wants to Hypnotize Fans Into Forgetting Their Favorite Movie So They Can Watch It Again
Every film lover has felt it: the wish to un-see a great movie so the twist, the music and the final scene can hit all over again. Streaming has made rewatching easier than ever, but nothing replaces the jolt of a first viewing. That longing is exactly what one cinema chain is hoping to tap into.
The idea comes from Pathé, a large European theater company, which has described the project as an experiment rather than a typical screening. It is part of a wider trend of cinemas dreaming up unusual events to bring audiences into theaters. Pathé also connects the concept to its Pathé Classics program, which brings popular older films back to the big screen.
The movie theater hypnosis plan, called Pathé REWIND, will try to make 30 film enthusiasts temporarily forget their favorite movie. It takes place on Monday, November 9, at Pathé Buitenhof in The Hague, Netherlands. After the hypnosis, the group will watch the film on the big screen to see whether it feels new again.
Each participant will first take part in a private online session with hypnotherapist Victor Kraemer, who has more than 30 years of experience. They will then be hypnotized again immediately before the screening, with a second induction at the theater. The goal is to see whether the first-time feeling can be recreated in a real cinema.
Volunteers chose from four films when they signed up: ‘The Matrix’, ‘Se7en’, ‘La La Land’ and ‘Interstellar’. According to one report, the 30 participants all had to pick the same movie. Sign-ups were open until October 29.
The selection is a mix of genres, but each has a moment that fans never forget. Coverage of the event points to the dojo scene in ‘The Matrix’, the mystery of what is in the box at the end of ‘Se7en’, the opening number of ‘La La Land’ and the final scene of ‘Interstellar’. Those are the beats viewers would most like to experience as surprises again.
That is also what gives the stunt its hook. Pathé’s communications manager has framed the pitch around a simple question: who wouldn’t want to see their favorite film for the very first time again? It is the kind of line that makes sense instantly, even if the science is less certain.
That is the big question, and Pathé is not claiming to have the answer. The company has not established whether hypnosis can really make someone forget a film, and the experiment is designed to explore whether the viewing experience can change. Even the most enthusiastic reports admit it is unclear whether people will forget a movie they know well.
Pathé has also not detailed how the results will be measured, or whether it plans to repeat the idea in other countries if it works. Critics have been quick to joke about the premise. The A.V. Club called it a stunt, though a stunt of the sort that is hard to dismiss in an era when everything feels like marketing.
This is not the first time a cinema has tried to blend hypnosis with movies. In 2022, the Göteborg Film Festival launched The Hypnotic Cinema, where a hypnotist performed mass hypnosis before three screenings and broke the spell afterward. The festival’s artistic director pointed to the similarities between being hypnotized and watching a film in a theater.
Early film history also compared the immersive experience of a darkened theater to a trance-like state. In that light, the Pathé experiment feels like a modern twist on an old idea. Instead of deepening the mood of a movie, this one aims to erase the familiarity that comes from knowing it by heart.
The announcement has spread widely online, a sign that the idea of watching a favorite film for the first time again resonates with movie fans. It also invites an obvious debate over which movie each person would choose to forget. That is a conversation film communities love to have, especially when it involves rewatching and spoilers.
Even if the hypnosis does not fully work, the event might still reveal something about how audiences experience movies. Sitting in a theater with a crowd, in the dark, can feel like its own kind of spell. Whether Pathé REWIND turns that feeling into a measurable experiment, or simply a memorable night out, remains to be seen.
Which Movie Would You Love to Forget So You Could Watch It Again for the First Time?
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