With the recent slew of multiplex heavyweights bragging to havemovies out about reissued zombies, a Colonel Sanders impersonator,a cartoon canine and Jesus, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mindoffers a brilliantly clever panorama of a relationship plagued byself-inflicted amnesia and enduring feelings of lost love.
The film's superbly twisted mixture of casting, writing anddirection add credence to the fact that this could possibly be themost wildly unique movie in quite some time.
The film pairs the talents of an uncommonly honest Jim Carreyand an amazingly believable Kate Winslet with a story of nearlypreposterous imagination.
The eccentric screenwriter Charlie Kaufman (Adaptation and BeingJohn Malkovich) replaces much of the absurdity of his former workswith true emotion without losing his flare for the hilariouslypeculiar. Director Michel Gondry, of epic music video fame, showsmoviegoers many of the same visual magic tricks used in his videosfor the White Stripes, Beck and the Chemical Brothers but provesthat he has as much interest in character development as he doesfor making Legos rock.
The story begins when Joel Barrish, played by Carrey, findshimself oddly compelled to skip work and take a train to a LongIsland beach. Also drawn to the beach is Clementine Kruczynski,expertly played by Winslet, who strikes up a conversation with Joelon the train ride home. While the two are complete opposites (Joelis a ski capped working stiff and Clementine a blue-haired wildchild), it becomes obvious that they share a strangeconnection.
Even at this stage in the film, it is hard to ignore the depthof both Carrey's and Winslet's characters. Both have personalitiesriddled with unlikable aspects, Joel's passionate ambivalence andClementine's spontaneous blabbering, but we are driven to like themanyhow.
From here, the story inches through tidbits of information onlyto reveal that Joel and Clementine have both had the memories oftheir shared relationship erased. After an argument with Joel,Clementine has hastily gone to Lacuna, a company specializing inmemory removal, and paid Dr. Howard Mierzwiak (Tom Wilkinson) toeradicate all memories of Joel. Pained by Clementine's irreversibleactions and in defiance of Alfred Tennyson's poetic words of wisdom"'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved atall," Joel too decides to have his memories vanquished byLacuna.
Here we follow Joel through the memory removal procedure, whichinvolves trashing everything in his apartment related to Clementineand eventually having his brain zapped by rather suspect headgear.But during the process to quash Joel's memories, Dr. Mierzwiak'sassistants Mary (Kirsten Dunst), Stan (Mark Ruffalo) and Patrick(Elijah Wood) begin experiencing technical difficulties.Unbeknownst to the young assistants, Joel's unconscious mind isstruggling to hold on to the memories of the woman he deeplyloves.
From this point, much of the movie is spent inside Joel'sslumbering mind. This is where Kaufman and Gondry begin to showaudiences the deep feelings and experiences Joel and Clementineshared for one another and is possibly the strongest point of thefilm.
As Joel's subconscious begins to realize that his memories arebeing taken from him, we see Joel beginning to regret theoperation, yet he is powerless to pull the plug.
Carrey portrays with astounding effectiveness this realizationthat pain is needed as much as pleasure in order to be complete.Unable to put an end to the procedure, he and Clementine (althoughjust an extension of his memory) develop a plan to hide Clementineamongst the memories of Joel's childhood as an attempt to salvagethe memory of his love.
While it is utterly hilarious to see Carrey and Winslet in thesemoments, the scenes still manage to convey the urgency of thecouple's quest to preserve Joel's memories so the two might reuniteafter Joel regains consciousness. Aside from hiding in Joel'sdistant past, the couple retraces key moments of theirrelationship, including their first meeting on Long Island.
During this portion of the movie, it is hard to escape Kaufman'smessage that memory could quite possibly determine our lives.
When Joel wakes up the next morning, it becomes evident that weare back at the point where the film began, with Joel andClementine being offered a second chance at love.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is an engaging story thatmanages to create new avenues for story telling while keeping theviewer emotionally invested. Without gaudy effects and regurgitatedideas, Gondry, Kaufman and the cast have managed to make anincredibly original film about how we are destined to repeat thepast, even if we can't remember it.
