The child grows up bringing new relationships to the family: a boyfriend, Al. Naomi’s parents try to keep her with them but she now has her own mind. Danny appears to be lashing out at everyone around him, which is setting everyone else on edge. At one point Al moves to touch Danny’s face and he pushes him away, bashes his own head with his hands and shakes it violently as though trying to dislodge unpleasant thoughts. The rapidly changing relationships are shown against a busy, city street which is a mixture of speeded up film – people whizzing past so fast as to be unrecognisable – and images of people frozen in time. The movement and music also have this characteristic of frantic speed and frozen moments; like life and memories.

How do the couple react to the lightbulb in the duet?

How many lifts and holds occur?

Which dancer leads most of the movement? Who appears more vulnerable?

Which body part initiates many of the moves?

How would you describe the dynamic and the mood between them?

Who keeps an eye on the lightbulb?

Do the couple travel in space?

What happens as Becci tries to leave the stage?

The sense of foreboding returns as, one by one, all the characters (memories?) disappear, leaving only Becci and Danny beneath the lightbulb.

Their contact duet is rooted to the spot below the light and takes the form of a heated dialogue. Their hands seem to be a point of electrical transfer, as though it is through the hands that they connect and converse, argue, insist, disagree. Although both initiate hand holds, it is Danny who leads and controls the movement that ensues, lifting, turning, pulling, supporting and holding Becci. Twice he throws her off and looks up at the lightbulb as she rolls to the floor.

Towards the end of the duet, Becci briefly takes control, leading and lifting Danny before stepping away and calling a halt to their discussions. She scurries away but another bulb lowers mercilessly into her path. The facts are inescapable and the lightbulb a cold stark reminder that one of them will eventually forget the other. Becci exits hurriedly and Danny follows but collapses beneath the, now rapidly descending, bulb to lie out on the floor. The light hovers just above his chest in exactly the spot Becci’s head occupied in the opening strop duet.

Who is the only visible character and where have you seen this shape before?

What is different this time?

What images can you see in the film?

What is the mood/flavour of the music?

In which direction does the minimal movement shift?

At the end, film flickers over the dancers feet – what does the film depict?

This scene is in striking contrast to everything that has gone before. The only visible character, after all this storytelling, is Danny who lies motionless beneath the light. The lightbulb hovers above Danny’s heart, casting a warm glow; symbolic of the couple’s struggle with memory loss and their pain at the thought of losing each other.

Quiet and meditative, the film and music together conjure the complex, artistic interior of the unknowable human brain and the slow, downward slide of the movement inside the silks, the inexorable progress of the disease.

How many exchanges can you count?

How many relationships can you identify?

What mood is set by the music?

Were you aware of the electrical images and sounds?

Watch Becci and Danny’s movements closely – what are they trying to do?

How many times does the reaching arm gesture recur?

Do you recognise the woman suffering the migraines from the lightbulb duet?

The momentum picks up with a series of violent exchanges between the characters. Becci and her younger self (Martina) desperately grab and hold fast to Danny and Chris (the young Danny), who shake or throw them off in their efforts to free themselves. The battles take the form of action – response which could suggest actual arguments and fights, or perhaps in Becci’s confused mind she is grasping at memories from different times in her life which have begun to conflate and jostle with one another. What were once good memories are mixing together with the present and take on a different hue. The aural accompaniment of fizzing and buzzing sounds (electrical misfiring?); the tightly patterned, electric blue flashes (migraine?) and the fact that all the action occurs in a narrow band of stark, unforgiving light, accentuates the sense of conflict, stress and relentless repetition.

And the futile wooden arm gesture – a plea for help, a futile offer of assistance – pepper the exchanges echoing back to earlier scenes.