Sad memories are the worst kind. Of all the memories, these are the ones that can flip the switch of a day at a moment’s notice. It could be the waft of a familiar fragrance once worn by a significant other who has since left your life. Or it might be a forgotten song that pops up on a playlist, instantly transporting you to the time and place you first heard it. Or perhaps it’s a photo, once a bookmark now wedged between a pair of books, that falls to the floor when reorganizing a room and evokes a memory you weren’t prepared to face on a particular day. If we could rid ourselves of our sad memories so that we no longer need to experience the pain associated with them, would we? Some of us would do this in a heartbeat, while others would never consider something so drastic. Most of us lie somewhere in between, and our resilience to these emotional triggers places us along that spectrum. Michel Gondry’s (The Green Hornet, Be Kind Rewind) universally revered cult classic, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
To truly appreciate this film, it needs to be viewed multiple times. And when I say multiple, I don’t mean two or three. I mean, like four or five. I revisit at least parts of it every few years. I’m still growing with the film. It resonates with me differently each time. Sometimes I’m in the right headspace to watch the entire movie. At others, it feels too personal to a season I’m going through or have recently gone through. Regardless, it feels like a punch in the gut each time. If you find films like Blue Valentine, Take This Waltz, or 500 Days of Summer equally devastating and captivating, this is your kind of movie. Likewise, if the fantastical worlds we are invited into through films like Being John Malkovich, Everything Everywhere All at Once, or Adaptation are for you, this movie is also for you. Finally, if you want to feel emotionally wrecked for two hours, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is hard to beat. Its appeal to such a variety of audiences has led many to regard it as one of the best movies of the 2000s and one of the greatest romance films of all time.
Taking place in the present day and purposefully disorienting us through a whirlwind of purposeful, non-linear back-and-forth sequences, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind looks at the relationship between Joel (Jim Carrey – (The Truman Show, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective), a reserved, discontented, loner, who finds more content in journaling than interacting with others, and Clementine (Kate Winslet – The Reader, Revolutionary Road), whose is quirky and outgoing and wears her emotions on her sleeve. They meet on a bus while he skips a day of work to go up to Montauk, New York, a village at the east end of the Long Island peninsula. Though they haven’t met before, each sees in the other something that feels familiar.
We learn that they were once in a committed relationship. Like many relationships, it started with a glimmer, transitioned into love, and, too quickly, reached a point where they were constantly bickering so much that their foundation could no longer sustain them. Choosing not to relive the sad memories, Clementine visits Lacuna Inc., a prosperous firm led by Dr. Howard Mierzwiak (Tom Wilkinson – In the Bedroom, Michael Clayton), which specializes in an innovative, non-surgical procedure that effectively destroys distressing memories. While Clementine is doing what she needs to move on from her past, Joel is hurt by her actions, as she will completely erase him from her mind, making him appear to her as a stranger in every possible future encounter.
In retaliation, Joel decides to have his memories of Clementine erased. He was willing to experience the sadness of the relationship’s end to keep the beautiful moments they shared a part of his story. Unfortunately, Joel is on a different part of the spectrum than Clementine. He’s unable to understand or accept how she would choose to erase him. However, mid-process, Joel’s anger subsides, and he decides he would prefer to remember Clementine, despite the sadness some of those memories might bring. But once the process begins, it cannot be stopped. Unfortunately for all involved, Dr. Mierzwiak’s misfit, well-meaning, but immature and undisciplined team of Stan Mark Ruffalo (The Kids Are All Right, Reservation Road), Patrick (Elijah Wood – I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore, Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring), and Mary (Kirsten Dunst – Melancholia, The Virgin Suicides) make some mistakes during the transition process, resulting in Joel’s memories becoming fragmented and disarrayed. What unfolds is beautiful and tragic, with Gondry allowing us to live in Joel’s mind as he travels through his entire relationship with Clementine and tries to make sense of the chaos around him.
Tender, heartfelt performances by Carrey and Winslet stand out in a film that does so much correctly. The morose, dreamlike sequences add a magical allure, allowing us to feel what Joel feels and how meaningful the relationship between the two lead characters was. Beautiful. Brutal. Raw. Authentic.
Plot 9/10
Character Development 9/10
Character Chemistry 9.5/10
Acting 9/10
Screenplay 9/10
Directing 8.5/10
Cinematography 10/10
Sound 8.5/10
Hook and Reel 8.5/10
Universal Relevance 9/10
91%
A-
Movies You Might Like If You Liked This Movie
- Anomalisa
- 500 Days of Summer
- Being John Malkovich
- Everything Everywhere All At Once
- Blue Valentine