Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) Review

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07-QBnEkgXU

THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

Love and relationships are just hard to understand sometimes.


PLOT


Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind follows extrovert Joel Barish who just broke up with his girlfriend Clementine Kruczynski after a two year relationship. He would all the more heartbroken however when discovering she erased her memories of him at the Long Island firm, Lacuna. This leads to him wanting to go through the same procedure. As ordered by Doctor Howard Mierzwiak, he records a tape recounting the volatile memories of their relationship, as well as submit all personal items associated with her. The procedure occurs when sleeping at his apartment so he’ll have no memory of the procedure. Those working on it will be the technician Stan Fink and secretary Mary Svevo. While they work on it, fellow employee Patrick Wertz is using Clementine’s memories of Joel to seduce her. Joel would go through his memories in reverse chronological order, from the last fight he had with Clementine. Once he reaches happier memories does he want to change his mind with losing her mentally. The mental projection of Clementine would suggest hiding her in a memory unrelated to her. Mary & Stan would get carried away partying around and when they see Joel’s mental movement halt the procedure, this forces Howard to come over to restart it. Mary ends up admitting to having a crush on her boss and when she confesses her feelings with a kiss, his wife Hollis (Deidre O’Connell) arrives and demands him to tell her the truth; It turns out Howard had an affair with Mary and she chose to end their relationship by erasing her past memories of him as if it never happened. As that happens, the procedure completes and by the time Joel reaches his last memory of Clementine where they first met. Before it vanishes for good, the projection of her tells him to meet her in Montauk, the same beach where they met. By the time he wakes up, everyone from Lacuna is already gone and he continues his life with no memory of the woman he loved. That doesn’t last long though because the two would meet again at a train station after calling in sick for work and visiting Montauk. They end up agreeing to a date and enjoy the frozen Charles River together like they did the first time. When he drops her off back to her home, Patrick realizes what had happened between them. As a result of her second case of heartbreak, especially with Stan admitting he only saw her with Howard once together remembering how happy she was, Mary breaks into Lacuna and steals all records that she would send to all patients. By the time Joel & Clementine get theirs, they would be shocked of knowing how bitter some of their memories were. As Clementine fears for the worst repeating himself, the film ends with her and Joel deciding to trying again anyway.


THOUGHTS


Love stories are a dime a dozen, but the idea to forget about a whole relationship completely is definitely something you wouldn’t think to be seen in the big screen. As you become quite enamored in seeing that visual experience from one set piece to another, this movie stands out very well from the 2000s because Director Michel Gondry and cowriters Charlie Kaufman & Pierre Bismuth craft something full of introspective. It can be funny to witness when looking through childhood memories and re-embracing old feelings that felt good, but then the heartache kicks in when remembering the bad and you can relate on wanting to get rid of. As much as you want that for the sake of being free from the negativity, it’s not exactly a good idea down the line because memories that are deemed painful are essential to our human experiences and the best way to have a meaningful relationship is to embrace imperfection otherwise you won’t reach for the happiness you’ve been pursuing. That is the whole point of this movie and you capture this epiphany when following a fantastic ensemble. Jim Carrey & Kate Winslet is the dynamic you don’t expect to pull off as a believably couple, and yet they do in such visceral fashion. Joel & Clementine were an opposites attract relationship  as the former is quite timid while the latter is impulsive, which shows off her independence. As Carrey nailed it making Joel a man so anxious through this journey that all he can do is reflect before it’s over, Winslet sure earns her fourth Oscar nomination for not only showing off how spontaneous he remembers Clementine for but also the vulnerability post procedure. Doing that was her biggest example of being impulsive because as Joel would follow, she just wanted the pain to go away. Even after they forget each other, they know something is wrong which lets destiny reunite them and while the fear of repeating mistakes is valid, they knew it was better than figuring it out for themselves than refuse to try. Ironically, it took people in a complicated line of work to pave the way for that to happen. Tom Wilkinson was greatly unethical as Howard because while arrogant in wanting to cure people from misery, but callous in thinking wiping Mary would solve anything instead of firing her. Mary was the biggest victim here because Kirsten Dunst showed she was a naive romantic that couldn’t help feeling the way she does when others thought she shouldn’t. It was ideal for her to break Lacuna’s confidentiality and because she understood no one deserves nor needs to get rid of memories as if they’re expendable. I don’t think Stan’s a bad guy either because apart from being a guy just doing his job, Mark Ruffalo shows him to have his own naivety and accepted Mary deserved better once he found out what happened to her. Apart from Howard, I think the true villain has to be Patrick because Elijah Wood made him a damn creep who was taking advantage of Clementine, thinking he can be authentic using her past against her. She did the right thing dumping him upon discovery because you just can’t defend that. Having said that, what she’ll have in her second chance with Joel will be way better than what could’ve been manipulative with Patrick. In conclusion, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is one of the best sci fi dramas for teaching us the value of all the memories that make us who we are. If you want a reality check or seek optimism, see this now.