Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Joel and Clementine meet one day after he decides to take an impromptu day off. What they both don’t know, is they have already had a years long relationship that ended poorly, so they both had each other ‘erased’ from their memories.
Direction
Directed by Michel Gondry, and co written by Gondry and legendary absurdist screenwriter Charlie Kaufman (who has penned some amazing films of his own, such as Adaptation and Being John Malkovich.
This has a similar direction feel to those, as for a majority of the film we witness Joel’s ‘inner mind’ while he fights to keep the memories of “Clem” with him. While these occur, they have bizarre ‘dream like’ feel to them, with overt use of colours and shadows. Even one brilliant moment has Clem running down the street, and she has one leg.
Cast/Characters
Carrey as Joel shows that he can deliver dramatic performances. I’ve reviewed some previous films where he excels in this field (Majestic), and have a few upcoming (Truman Show, Man on the Moon). He also brings a slight comedic presence to the film which I felt was needed to break up the drama a fraction.
Kate Winslet as Clem is simply faultless. She brings both an aura of vulnerability and confidence. She well and truly shed her ‘Titanic’ era type roles with the meatier dramatic material she was given.
Secondary cast members include Elijah Wood as Patrick, Mark Ruffalo as Stan, Kirsten Dunst as Mary and Tom Wilkinson as Howard. They play the team who erase the memories of their patients, and have their own side story.
Screenplay/Setting/Themes
This is one of the absurdist films that is done well. Kaufman excels in this, and I almost felt Spike Jonze vibes while watching.
The non linear dream sequence takes up a majority of the film, where Clem is deleted from his memory, mixes timelines. If you are not a fan of non linear then you will find this hard to follow. Or you will need to have a second viewing.
As the dreams fade into one another, Joel ‘walks through’ sets of his life (from a supermarket, into an apartment). The way these physical sets were set up for these shots should be commended too.
While not equally as important as the main two, we meet the medical team who assist them as the film goes on.
Patrick, who ‘steals’ Clem (by copying the entire history of her and Joel’s relationship post her deleting him).
Stan and Mary who are in a relationship, but Mary longs for their boss Howard, who she once had a relationship with – before they broke up – and he erased her memory.
Overall
A different take on the ‘love story’ trope – that has flawless performances by the two leads. The non linear/absurdist screenplay is brilliantly done by the great Charlie Kaufman.
My one gripe is I found the ‘secondary arc’ – that of Patrick/Stan etc – a little too much, and at times takes away from the Clem/Joel arc that viewers went in for.
Other than that, a very strong recommend.
4.5/5
If you’re able to, please “buy me a coffee”