Have relationship woes and gripes? Does your girlfiend spend more time decorating potatoes than hanging out with you? Don’t be too quick to complain about idiosyncrasies. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, written with the eerie intelligence of the famed Charlie Kaufman (Adaptation, Being John Malkovich) and directed by Michel Gondry (various Bjork videos), the film clearly executes its message-that perfect relationships are elusive.
Lacuna Incorporated, a fictional medical practice that erases people’s memories, invades the life of Joel (Jim Carrey) when he discovers that his estranged ex-girlfriend, Clementine (Kate Winslet), has undergone the procedure to erase him from her memory.
Struck with sadness and disbelief, playing nostalgic cassette tapes in his car and sobbing hysterically as rain beats on his window, Joel soon after finds himself at the office of Lacuna’s Doctor Merzwiak. He is instructed to collect all things that remind him of Clementine (e.g. decorated potatoes) so that the technicians can erase the painful memories associated with them.
After taking the prescribed sleeping pill, Joel dons a brand new pair of pajamas and goes to sleep. Fresh and clean in his new PJs, its almost as if he was preparing for the “final sleep.” Technicians played by Mark Ruffalo and Kirsten Dunst erase Clementine from his memory, while raiding his liquor cabinet, eating various breaded foods off Joel’s crotch, getting high, and having a pre-coital bounce-on-the-bed in their underwear party.
The entire scene is uncomfortable to watch-Joel’s memories are slowly slipping away, flashing in and out of the scene while he hears the distant debaucherous voices of the delinquents in his house. As his mind battles desperately to hold onto the precious memories, the juxtaposition of his pain and their irresponsibility is tedious for the audience to watch.
Perhaps the most interesting twist of the film is the game that Joel begins to play with the erasing machines. He focuses on a memory far-removed from his life with Clementine and adds her in so that the two can hide there together, safe from Lacuna. In one scene, the two are quickly removed to Joel’s childhood kitchen sink, as Joel’s mother bathes him and he closes his eyes and arches his neck like a dog being scratched. In another instance, Joel takes Clementine under the covers to a memory of utter humiliation, as his mother catches him masturbating.
His efforts to evade the procedure prove fruitless however, and the two say goodbye on the beach in Montauk, a place of great ironic significance in the movie.
Carrey, no longer hiding behind the likes of Ace Ventura, does an unbelievable job in this rare, serious role. He tackles this emotionally-draining role with delicacy. Kate Winslet creates such a convincing, dysfunctional, chameleon-haired Clementine that you’d think she had been displaced from your studio art class.
Ruffalo may look like he just rolled out of bed, but his performance is hilarious and dead-on. Kirsten Dunst, as usual, plays the obnoxious but desirable Barbie-doll (complete with pink panties, a paper-thin wife beater, and bouncing breasts), butchering the quotes and names of great philosophers along the way. Also with a minor role is Elijah Wood, a third technician, who is, not surprisingly, still true to his hobbit-form.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind will make you laugh, cry, and remember every little moment of every relationship, big or small. It may even put a boost in the journal and scrapbook business. Walking out of the theatre, you don’t rack your brains attempting to decipher a complex and colluded message. Kaufman writes in exquisite penmanship that we should savor the good and bad in every person and every experience.?
Good writing. I love it :))