Below you can find a movie idea/summary/script I wrote that is a drama movie but also loops around in a weird way. I hope it will bring self-reflection to the audience since the story shows the depth of grief in contrast to how people today perceive horrible events as some kind of thrilling experience. The text is a bit rough and there are still various directions to take (written in italic). Anyway, I hope you enjoy it, and if you feel like you want to work with this (produce/act/film/market etc.). Let me know!

The movie

The movie starts with a couple (man and woman) hiking through a large desert. They enjoy the experience and love each other very much. They are making fun with each other and they are experienced hikers.

But one day, while playing, the man breaks his ankle and gets badly injured. They don’t have much water and the man can hardly walk. She tries to get extra water and they spend days together while the man is slowly dying and she is too. The man says she needs to get help and survive for herself. So with a lot of pain and sadness, they separate. She barely survives while getting out of the wilderness. They try to rescue the man but he is dead. (it could also be another traumatic experience, must be enough painful to make a traumatized experience and to make a movie about it).

Then the movie actually starts (intro and stuff)

She is deeply traumatized and can’t function at all. She lives now in an empty house and doesn’t know what to do and can’t do anything. She keeps just smelling his clothes and loses her mind.

Her family is trying to help her. She does need money to work but has many issues with this. She fails and is desperate. One day she is called by a movie producer who is intrigued by the story they heard from a local newspaper.

They invite themselves to talk and interview her. She feels that she isn’t able to share the full story and gets very upset when the crew tries to talk with her about it. It takes a couple of times and the collaboration is almost ended. They need the story and she needs the money. But she is heartbroken by sharing it. She finally shares the story with heartbreaking details (which might be shown with some additional flashbacks).

The movie crew has enough information and is going to film it. They also go to the same desert area with her which devastates her but also helps with her recovery. It seems she’s getting a little bit better while the movie crew is progressing on the movie.

But when the marketing of the movie starts, she is experiencing a complete backfall. Suddenly, everywhere where she watches she is reminded of that traumatic experience which is being showcased as a quite cool experience. She is also being called by many people/fans (or reads on the internet from people) who “enjoy” the horrors she’s been through. The movie crew has made it all a little bit more extreme and the actors are a little bit more pretty than she and how her man was. She somehow recognizes him and is very confused. She feels horrible but has a contract and needs the money.

She is invited to the movie premiere. She wants to go but it feels horrible, and when she sees the man who plays her husband, she loses it.

(Ending premiere night) She, and the whole actual crew of the movie is being shown walking down the red carpet of that same exact movie theatre. Half traumatized and very sad she manages to sit down in her chair, and the movie starts. We see a shot from the audience’s perspective. As if it is themselves watching the movie and then the movie ends. (The goal is to exactly copy the exact conditions to make a perfect déjà vu moment).

(Ending normal theatre movie) She loses it and flees toward home. Where she’s having a breakdown. She gathers her confidence and a few weeks later she goes to a normal theatre, buys her ticket and sits down in between the audience. People in the audience say some typical audience comments, and the movie starts. Then we see a shot from the audience’s perspective. As if it is themselves watching the movie and then the movie ends. (The goal is to exactly copy the exact conditions to make a perfect déjà vu moment).