Eternal
Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
A Focus
Features Film
Directed by: Michel Gondry
Starring: Jim Carrey (Joel), Kate
Winslet (Clementine), Kirsten Dunst (Mary),
Mark Ruffalo (Stan), Elijah Wood (Patrick),
Tom Wilkinson (Dr. Mierzwiak)
Running Time: 1 hour, 48 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Review written on 16 July 2006
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"Meet Me in...Montauk"
This movie is beautiful. This movie
makes me want to fall in love. This movie makes me treasure
my memories, both good and bad. This movie is brilliantly
made, and you should want to see it if you haven't yet.
Jim Carrey is Joel, and he was in a
relationship with Clementine, played by Kate Winslet. Their
relationship ends. Naturally, she wants to have her memories
of Joel erased, so she does (this technology is available
in the future). He finds out about this, and decides that
to get back at her for wanting to forget him, he'll have his
mind erased. So off he goes to Lacuna, where they arrange
the mind-erasing. He then goes to sleep at home, as the procedure
dictates, and that is when the story begins. That's kind of
a bit of a lie though, as honestly, the way the movie is filmed
and presented to you leaves you to figure out the timeline
and what the hell is happening.
Because as the procedure is occuring
on Joel's memories, we see the reverse timeline of Joel and
Clementine's relationship, starting with the breakup and working
our way back to the beginning when they were newly in love.
And as Joel is reliving these memories, and experiences their
destruction, he realizes he doesn't want to lose them after
all. Even if Clementine wants to forget him, he doesn't want
to forget her. It may have ended badly, but he still loved
the experience.
That is what I understood the movie
as trying to tell me. It's that even though things may end
up in a way that you didn't want, it was the experience itself
and the memories of those experiences that make up our life.
When he realized he was losing these memories, and potentially
the one woman who actually made him feel complete, he realized
he didn't want this anymore. His desire to keep the memories
is the latter half of the movie - and his struggle to hide
the memories away is where you see some of the truly visual
magic that Michel Gondry conjured - and if you watch the special
features, you find out that it wasn't digital effects at all
- just clever camera work and lighting and secret doors and
perspective and such. It's truly an amazing movie to experience.
Overall, watching this movie gave me
hope that true love does exist. That it will conquer barriers
such as 'mind-erasing' and human fallability. That even with
our jealousies and insecurities, we do find the one we're
meant to be with. I truly do hope that is the case. Even so,
this movie is a beautiful thing to watch.
Scenes to Remember:
The first meeting on the train; Joel as a 6-year old; The
truth finally told; 'Meet me in Montauk' at the beach house.
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A Look Inside Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind