Appropriately, Mnemophrenia will linger in your thoughts for a long time…
You know that feeling when you’ve had a really vivid dream and someone has done something to upset and annoy you and once you’ve woken up, you can shake the feelings of hurt and resentment immediately so they linger around for hours, maybe the rest of the day. It’s a phenomenon which doesn’t bode well for how ready our minds and psyches are for the transformative technology of immersive VR. It’s this blurring of the real and the perceived experience that’s at the heart of “Mnemophrenia”, a prescient and thought-provoking sci-fi indie film, the debut feature of writer/ director Eirini Konstantinidou.
It takes its title from a theoretical psychosis, a mental state which struggles to separate real, lived experiences from those encountered through virtual reality, setting out to explore both sides of the phenomenon – the emotional and psychological drawbacks as well as the potential benefits and increased empathy of being able to virtually live the lives of the others
It’s a familiar enough sci-fi trope, explored in such films as “Strange Days” and even “Star Trek: The Next Generation” episode “Hollow Pursuits” but it’s never quite been explored in the way it is here, almost in pseudo-documentary style as it moves between three intertwined stories involving different generations of the same family. Jeanette (Freya Berry), discovers that the man she vividly remembers falling in love with never really existed, shattering her sense of self and seeking to understand who she might be if she hadn’t been influenced and shaped by a love affair which wasn’t real.
The second story picks up with Jeanette’s grandson, Nicholas (Robin King), who is developing an enhanced version of VR technology and discovering that his new form of virtual reality triggers Mnemophrenia in all of its users, not just those with an underlying predisposition. This leads to the third storyline which brings in a new element, as evidence emerges of individuals born with Mnemophrenia and a growing movement who see it not as an affliction but the next evolutionary leap.
It’s a quiet, cerebral sci-fi drama, devoid of flashy set-pieces but gorgeously photographed, well written and solidly performed. It’s only fitting that a movie which explores the blurring lines between the real and the created should linger so long in your memory after watching it.
