Conscience (Conciencia’) stars Ruben Zamora, Carla Nieto and Barbara De Regil. It is Sergio Peña’s opera prima, and it narrates the intimate story of a writer who finds himself in a deep state of emotional confusion and, while he is starting a new relationship, he continues to fight and be tormented by memories of a past love affair.
Conciencia received an award at the International Movie World-Fest in Houston, Texas, an award at the Girona (Spain) Film Festival as well as an award at the Cine Indie Fest Festival. Mexican reviews have praised Conscience as a film with high technical qualifications, a reflective and believable narrative and its actors as doing “masterful work”; the cinematography by Celina Cardenas has sublime qualities. The movie was filmed between 2017 and 2018 in Mexico as a result of thoughts about “being and the self-perception of one in the world” according to Peña who also wrote the screenplay. Alejandro Molina is the producer.
The story focuses on the life of Arturo (Rubén Zamora), a writer who seeks emotional stability through his work and through a relationship with Elizabeth (Carla Nieto), however, the news that he has an illness that will make him lose his sight and the memory of his ex-partner, Mónica (Bárbara de Regil), keeps him in constant dissonance.
The narrative, for the most part, walks in that tenor, it deviates very little during almost the hour and a half that the film lasts. However, it shows at times the way people relate, especially between men and women. The film also touches on the subject of how to love, infidelity and Arturo’s regret for having failed in his previous relationship which appears in black and white flashbacks.
But remorse for failing always ends with a hint of guilt. Perhaps that is why in his new courtship he wants to vindicate himself, but the shadow of the past does not let him be one hundred percent. Zamora plays Arthur, who is looking for an easier, more peaceful life but can’t get away from the passionate thoughts of his relationship with his ex-lover (de Regil). The character finds himself tormented, fighting his own thoughts and trying to make peace with his past and embracing a present that sometimes can’t be as pleasant as the thoughts, since they are not the reality.
Consciencia is Peña’s feature debut, before this project, he wrote and directed the short film La Vie as well as the short film Arlecchino: Historia de un Vestuario.
The film opened in Mexico, the US, and Canada back in December 2020 and it’s one of Mexico’s entries to the Golden Globes 2021.