Managing to be both gently beautiful and desperately moving, Suki Chan’s Conscious explores what happens when consciousness and memory begin to disintegrate, with the haunting presence of dementia and mental decline intertwined within a series of distinctive yet similar stories.
Chan’s debut feature is a sensitive and thoughtful film, driven by memorable interviews, a series of beautiful visual compositions and delicate music by Ivor Novello Award–winning composer Dominik Scherrer. While the subject matter is familiar, the presentation here is never traditional.
The film narrates the stories of Wendy Mitchell, Pegeen O’Sullivan, and Maureen Winfield as they describe how dementia and mental decline has impacted on their lives in different ways. Mirroring their journeys is the work of neuroscientist Anil Seth who has dedicated his career to studying consciousness, but who finds his professional and personal life begin to intersect – science becomes personal when his mother descends into a challenging state.
The are a limited number of talking head interviews, with Chan preferring to set delicate and often haunting visuals (and accompanying music) alongside voice-overs as the three women (and sometimes those who know them) tell the stories. “On a bad day my reality becomes a different reality,” comments Wendy, adding that surroundings become unfamiliar and hazy as she worries about what day and time it is, and what she is supposed to be doing.
“I try and tell myself it’s not me, it’s the dementia,” she adds. “I sit quietly and wait for the fog to disappear.”
Pegeen O’Sullivan describes her life and situation, though her outlook is balanced by a next-door neighbour who explains the reality of her life story, rather than the world as seen through Pegeen’s confused perspective. Meanwhile Maureen Winfield loyally stands by the side of her increasingly confused (and often angry) husband who struggles with memory and sense of his reality. In one ‘scene’ we see him getting dressed and then getting angry with the man he sess in the mirror and who won’t answer him.
In her film notes, director Suki Chan writes: “Conscious has been an eight-year journey exploring the edges of human consciousness, when memory fades and the self fragments. From growing up between Western and Chinese cultures — observing a deep respect for our elders — to caring for my grandmother as a child, every step has been a marker toward this feature.”
While the stories can by sad and worrying, there is never a hint of self-pity from these women, and in fact there are often glimpses of humour and appreciation about their lives. As Wendy comments: “I quite like the gregarious alien I have become. Now I talk to anyone anywhere…I used to be reserved. I quite like this new person.”
UK, 2026, 81mins
Dir/scr: Suki Chan
Production: Aconite Productions, Conscious Productions
Producers: Aimara Reques, Teresa Grimes, Suki Chan
Cinematography: David Lee, Catherine Derry
Editors: Suki Chan, Michael Ellis
Music: Dominik Scherrer
With: Wendy Mitchell, Pegeen O’Sullivan, Maureen Winfield, Anil Seth
