FEATURE:
Pause
IN THIS PHOTO: Florence Pugh in 2025 for Who What Wear/PHOTO CREDIT: Greg Swales
A Film That Explores Memory Loss and Music and the Profound Effect, Both Negative and Positive
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IN part inspired…
IN THIS PHOTO: Broadcaster and D.J. Laurene is an ambassador for Music for Dementia (a U.K.-based campaign and initiative), advocating for personalised music to be an integral part of dementia care to reduce anxiety and improve quality of life
by Music for Dementia and the important and incredible work they do, it made me think about the subject of music and memory. How there are so many people out there who live with dementia and other debilitating and horrible conditions which means they lose their memory and their identity. So debilitating and challenging, it can be especially tough and harrowing for loved ones. If someone has dementia or Alzheimer’s, they may have ‘good’ days, where they are quite lucid and can remember people around them. However, there are those darker or more regular days when people forget names, people, places and simple things. One of the most upsetting elements is how people can forget their past. Those vital memories of childhood and your young years which can give us strength and escape in a world that is becoming increasingly bleak and helpless. I do not live with these conditions myself, yet my memory is not great. I feel like I am losing grip and sight of memories I should be able to retain. Things from my teenage years – I am forty-two – becoming patchier and fading somewhat. There will be as time, perhaps not too far away, when everything from my childhood up to the age of thirty or so, might evade memory forever, It is dreadful to realise that, as my parents (who are in their late-sixties/seventies) can recall their childhood and younger years much more clearly than me, It makes charities like Music for Dementia so important for those who actually live with conditions which impact their memory and mind in ways much more intensely and complexly than anything I will go through. I am very fortunate as I only have memory lapses and minor issues.
Lauren Laverne is an amazing D.J. and broadcaster who spearheaded the campaign to give everyone with dementia access to music, encouraging personalised playlist creation. Not only can it help gain access to memories that would otherwise have been lost. It is a way to understand the power of music for people who live with conditions like dementia. How you can access parts of your brain and memory with songs. Those that unlock something that words or conversation cannot. It does get occasionally discussed on the screen, though I am racking my mind to think if there has been a film where someone living with a condition like dementia has been brought to the screen. More specifically, where music is integral. How they are losing their memories and struggling to recall people and events from their life. Music helps them access that and gives them that clear glimpse of the past. There have been films concerning memories and wiping them. I am thinking of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004). Something like Memento (2000). Both are very different films, yet they concern memory. Films have been made where music is integral. Mixtapes, for example. Though it is a documentary-film concerning real people, 2014’s Alive Inside: A Story of Music and Memory is closest to what I am talking about. a 2014. Directed and produced by Michael Rossato-Bennett, the documentary includes a series of interviews with individuals on neurology, geriatrics, and music. The documentary tells the story of patients and their experience with music and creating personalized playlists for elderly patients with dementia and Alzheimer's disease based on their music preferences. I have been thinking about work like this and how important they are. Conditions like dementia and Alzheimer’s can and possibly will impact most of us in some form through our lives. Illnesses that must be at times impossible to manage and it can be so upsetting for loved ones who have to see someone they care about deteriorate and struggle to recall simple things, the fact is that music can be of huge benefit.
Maybe I will come up with a better and more intelligent title, but I envisage a film called Pause. The title would refer to the pause button on a Discman/Walkman, but also a pause in memory. How there would be this silent and astatic moment of nothing. It also has a third meaning, in the sense of music puts a temporary pause to some of the worst aspects of dementia and similar neurological conditions. In this case, it would be a story told through the eyes of a young couple. A young woman living with a condition whereby she struggles to remember. That is why I mentioned films like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Its director, Michel Gondry, has inspired my idea. In terms of a lead actor, Florence Pugh instantly sprung to mind. Someone who could handle the emotional heaviness and also mix in lighter and more comedic touches. She may not have a condition like Alzheimer’s, though she is in a position where she is living with an injury or disorder affecting her brain (maybe an injury after a car crash that then led to a neurological disorder). To me, it would be a story where we briefly see how she used to be and where she is now, though the bulk of the film is about the here and now. Maybe set in New York – because most of my film ideas are set there! – in the ‘00s perhaps, the action would flash back to her childhood and teens. Maybe growing up and also memories of the 1990s, when she was with her other half and they were falling for each other. An incredible soundtrack that would feature major artists and also some smaller acts, she is in this horrible situation where she can lead her life but also is struggling to remember. So much of her is gone forever. The film would have an amazing twist ending or revelation based around the narrative and time period. Songs from the current and recent timeline would flash us back. Certain songs would bring up these scenes. However, because her memory is not clear and perfect, the visuals would be influenced by directors such as Michel Gondry and Christopher Nolan (who directed Memento). In terms of the former being quirkier and the latter building these complex and multi-layered films like Tenet and Inception.
Not only would there be unique selling points around the film’s promotion, trailer and soundtrack, the actual film itself would take us inside this relationship – and the couple’s wider world – that tackles the darker days when the lead’s memory is fading and it causes tensions. How they flash back to times of happiness and there are joyous scenes where an incredible song unlocks something wonderful. Michel Gondry has a whimsical, D.I.Y. aesthetic that blends surrealist dream logic with deep human emotion. He prioritizes practical, in-camera effects over CGI—using cardboard, animation, and forced perspective to create handmade, nostalgic worlds. This would influence a lot of the flashbacks and how the music, lyrics and themes in the songs might spill into the scenes and there would be this blend of worlds and timelines. Christopher Nolan uses immersive realism and time-bending storylines. This also would really suit Pause. I don’t think that blend has been used before. However, I am also influenced by directors like Celine Song and Agnès Varda in different ways. In terms of the visuals and style. In terms of Celine Song, 2023’s Past Lives has stayed with me. Maybe blending all this would be chaotic and a bit of a mess. Though, in some ways, that is the point. I feel like there could be enough justification to blend these different directions and visuals elements. However, budget would be a major concern. It would be quite an expensive film, though I think this is s story that needs to be told. It would not be too heavy a watch. There would be plenty of humour, some fantasy and wonderful moments. Of course, there would need to be more serious and draining scenes, as we are dealing with something very serious that requires that respect and examination. I like the idea of there being this split between a '00s/contemporary setting and going back. Though the timelines and realities would be bent and blurred so that we get this amazing twist and final few scenes.
I do feel like music has this transformative power. Bringing that into a film. One scene would essentially be a recreation of Perter Gabriel’s Sledgehammer video. This song that is important for a specific reason, that would then instantly cut to another scene where parts of the video set can be seen and are there but it is in the street (the Michel Gondry influence). This is about the fragmented and slightly unreliable and damaged side of memory and the brain and how visions and memories of the past could not be as cohesive, coherent and focused as they should. It takes me back to Music for Dementia and the work they do. Other charities who use music and playlists as a way for those living with awful conditions to better access memories or use music as a therapeutic tool. I am not sure whether that aspect has been represented through film. As I say, there have been films where music has been instrumental for people with autism or someone being bullied. The 2021 film, Mixtape, is interesting. In 1999, twelve-year-old Beverly discovers a broken mixtape made by her late parents. She sets out to find the songs -- and learn more about her mum and dad. Films like 2014’s Still Alice deal with the impact of Alzheimer's. I have not really seen anything that combines music and its power with something like dementia or Alzheimer's. That is why I want to eventually get Pause made. It would be new and quite timely in a way. A film with hope at its heart, the mix of these visual and limnetic styles, the time-jumping and bending narrative and powerful central performances, tied to this incredible soundtrack, would make the film a success, I feel. Whilst it might only be a concept or fantasy at the moment, I would really love for this idea to…
BE brought to the screen.