The excellent documentary Conscious, by Suki Chan, is a heartbreaking and contemplative look at the realities and never-ending mysteries of the brain through the devastating neurological impact of dementia. Visually striking, you are compelled from beginning to end.

Filmed over seven years, Conscious narrates the stories of Wendy Mitchell, Pegeen O’Sullivan, and Maureen Winfield who navigate dementia in transformative ways. Mirroring their journeys is the work of neuroscientist Anil Seth who hasdedicated his career to studying consciousness, and finds his professional andpersonal life intersect as science becomes personal.

Chan eases us through the stages of dementia by talking about the loss of full consciousness, those lapses. We see the examples and the way it affects not only those diagnosed, but also those who care, before we get to the point where dementia has taken over and the person who was there is lost in the last moments. It’s a strong structure that allows the audience to feel as if we have gone on this winding, heartbreaking journey with our participants.

Wisely, in some instances, Suki Chan uses actors to portray people at different stages of dementia. Using this simple but effective method of preserving the dignity of those involved allows us to see what people like Maureen and Anil have gone through. With Maureen, we see how she had to deal with being “the other woman” in her husband’s eyes, and how she became this calming yet authoritative person for her husband of 60 years, even though he thought he and his wife were still young and that this woman was someone else entirely.

With Anil, it is seeing a parent fade away from the person he had known all his life, to see that slow downturn in cognition and how, as a neuroscientist, he had read about it, but seeing it for the first time was deeply jarring. By presenting these experiences cinematically, we can enter the memories and connect in a way that a simple talking-head segment could not. This interactivity makes Conscious become very impactful to the audience.

What grabs you greatly is the strength all of these women have. Whether it is Pegeen finding an avenue to write her stories to somehow find herself again. Or Wendy in doing what she can to not be overcome by what is happening to her and with Maureen who has to do so much as her husband Michaels carer. It is remarkable how some things are compartmentalised by the brain and when something like dementia comes and hits your life so devastatingly, that there can be something freeing in it. Past traumas can wash away, and the focus of the now remains. The brain is such a damn mystery that we may never fully grasp everything within it, but in some moments in life, like for the participants here, there is some form of clarity and it provides hope and light, even when all should be dark. When Conscious focuses on these topics, it becomes unmissable viewing.

Having Wendy Mitchell go through her experiences of the early stages of her diagnosis is hugely eye-opening. We experience what she is going through as she attempts to counteract dementia, seeing it as a problem to solve. That despite her memories becoming foggy or having episodes of not understanding what is going on. You are put in her shoes as she talks about her enjoyment of typing and blogging her memories, only to suddenly lose that ability. The brain is there yelling at the hands to do what they have always done, but that connection has been temporarily severed or, as Wendy states, fogged over.

By showing us reenactments of this or the camera moving glacially through like in that case with Wendy over a keyboard, this brings that interactivity to the fore and helps make Conscious as good as it is as a documentary, additionally we are given these shots of hives, veins, tree tops etc to show us how nature connects how they are like that of cells and the brain and like the brain they can falter and degrade over time.

Cinematographers David Lee and Catherine Derry have done some gorgeous work here to engage the audience visually. Their gentle yet rich camerawork lures you into the participants’ experiences, whilst Dominik Scherrer’s score brings a haunting calmness to proceedings. We are never hurried as we soak in the soundscape he has created, and in Michael Ellis and Chan’s soft editing, which shows great respect for the stories and experiences of those involved and never oversteps the mark. We are listeners, viewers of these tales, and the fact that shows and moments are given time to breathe is of great benefit to the film.

For some, the visual styles and methods used may not wholly work; they may feel that they are artificial to the true documentary experience. However, for me, it works; it brings a connection to these people’s lives and experiences. Conscious is a terrific blend of documentaries that blend the scientific with the personal, whilst being supremely stronger on the latter—an engrossing watch.

★★★★

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