Movie Review: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Michael Gondry - Director
Charlie Kaufman - Screenwriter
Jim Carrey - Joel Barish
Kate Winslet - Clementine Kruczynski
Elijah Wood - Patrick
Mark Ruffalo - Stan
Kirsten Dunst - Mary
Tom Wilkinson - Dr Howard Mierzwiak

Joel and Clementine share an important moment in Joel's psyche

Charlie Kaufman definitely has a distinctive style all his own. Like Tim Burton's work, you can look at a film and say "That's definitely Charlie Kaufman." He has brought us a couple of gems in "Adaptation." and "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind." His films are, for lack of a better word, quirky. They toy with reality, making the viewer question in which fragmented reality, or in whose mind, is the action on screen taking place?

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a love story of sorts. Or rather, it is a story about love. It seems that there is a medical process in which one can remove all traces of a person from their memory. This process, combined with a little housecleaning of sentimental objects, effectively removes the person from the subject's life entirely. Early in the film we find that Joel's girlfriend Clementine has had him erased from her life. Depressed, angry, and confused Joel decides to have the process done and remove Clementine from his mind. When he asks the doctor about risks of brain damage, Dr Mierzwiak tells him "Well, technically the process is brain damage."

Joel takes some pills and goes to sleep after which the surgeons (a couple of irresponsible kids played by Wood and Ruffalo) arrive, hook a computer up to Joel's brain and begin sifting through his memories. Most of the film takes place in Joel's subconscious as he relives memories about Clementine and slowly realizes that he wants to keep those memories. Some of those memories may be painful, but they help make up who he is. He begins trying to hide away memories of his former love as the team is working to delete those experiences from his brain.

It became clear to me at some point that Joel and Clementine were better off without each other. They are polar opposites, with Joel being the quiet, embarrassed, nice guy (reminiscient of Charlie in Adaptation.) and Clementine as the outspoken, hair-dying, party girl who finds herself simultaneously attracted to and repelled by Joel's sweetness. They have some lovely, beautiful memories but they also have some nasty, terrible fights and misunderstandings. That's why they love is blind I guess. But love can overcome some pretty awful happenings, and whether Joel and Clementine belong together isn't for me to say.

Jim Carrey has proven himself, to me, to be a top-flight actor. He was terrific in Man on the Moon and The Truman Show, and his performance here is as good as any in his career. We'll see if this nets him an Oscar nomination as it should. The performances are good here, particularly from Wilkinson and Winslet. The only thing really wrong with the film is that it's billed as a comedy. I'd like someone to point out the funny parts to me, because I didn't see any. I'd classify this film as a drama, sometimes heartwarming, sometimes very sad and always very odd. It is also brilliant and very much worth spending a couple of hours and a few dollars on.

Eternal Sunshine scores 3 wombats out of 4