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Overall Rating
  Awesome: 79.17%
Worth A Look: 8.97%
Just Average: 3.21%
Pretty Crappy: 1.92%
Sucks: 6.73%
16 reviews, 216 user ratings
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| Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind |
by Josh Gryniewicz
"Kaufman’s most developed film to date."
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Charlie Kaufman is one of the few writers with the ability to convey emotional depth in metaphorically charged dream like narratives while still remaining grounded in the reality of human experience. His films “Being John Malkovich” (1999), “Adaptation” (2002) and “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind” (2002) are surrealistic journeys into the philosophical soul of humanity. “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” marks the most maturely developed film in his repertoire.Joel (Jim Carrey) is a straight lace, button down, admittedly non-impulsive guy who agrees to have the memories of his last relationship erased after finding that his free-spirited ex, Clementine (Kate Winslet) has already had the procedure done herself. While the procedure is being administered Joel comes to the realization that he needs these memories and the film takes an intriguing turn as he tries to salvage a single image of her.
This concept and its philosophical core, the role memory plays in defining our perceptions of reality and personal identity, are familiar to fans of sci-fi master Philip K. Dick. Rather than scripting the story against a backdrop of interplanetary conspiracy or corporate domination, however, Kaufman’s theme is far more ordinary (and therefore extraordinary), love. The relationship between Joel and Clementine revealed through reflective vignettes explores the depths of the characters and their intimacy but also rushes the “thriller” component of the story along. The implicit images of Joel and Clem race through the recess of his psyche attempting to get “off the map” of charted memory into areas where the machine and the “erasers” presumably won’t touch. Joel tries to conceal Clem in humiliating, awkward childhood memories: recollections of Joel at age four, flashbacks to being caught masturbating and childhood confrontations with neighborhood bullies. This not only provides the most outrageously humorous parts of the film (in neurotic, self-effacing Kaufman form) but its ultimate message--our memories are an interconnected patchwork that composes who we are.
Other sub-plots are flawlessly woven into the narrative to underscore this point, like multiple hypotheses drawing equally relevant conclusions. Patrick (Elijah Wood) one of the memory technicians falls in love with Clem at her first visit to Lacuna, Inc. and takes the opportunity to steal aspects of Joel's identity in an effort to seduce her; factoring ethical connotations into the memory debate.
Furthermore, every performance in the film is delivered with the awareness that they are simultaneously characters and concepts. Winslet for example, offers subtle differences between Clem in reality and Clem as featured in the mind of Joel. Her eccentricities in Joel’s eyes are more pronounced and exhibited as such in his memory, while the Clem of reality dons a depressed quality as her unique characteristics mask an underlying confusion. Carrey who has built his career on nauseating over-the-top roles, expresses his range not just by playing the straight guy, but playing it so subdued that the images take center, rather than the character. The supporting roles are just as impressive – Elijah Wood plays the dweebish villain as rationalizing his scheme to seduce in a manner that is simultaneously pathetic and conniving. His performance makes it clear that he is more thrilled with the cleverness of his ploy, than taxed by its manipulative nature. An interesting note, is that the only significant resistance the character gets is from mind erase partner Frank (Mark Ruffalo) who observes its unethical nature while stealing from Joel’s apartment (he won’t remember if anything goes missing). Dunst’s performance perfectly compliments Winslet’s, where Clem’s weirdness masks confusion and pain, Mary’s perky, upbeat disposition does the same and Dunst embodies the revelations that define the film’s theme.
Furthermore, Director Michel Gondry, who has refined his techniques (and flair for surreal imagery) on music videos, along with cinematographer Ellen Kuras and editor Valdis Oskarsdottir provide intricate layers of hallucinatory mental images that seduce viewers into experiencing rather than viewing the story.“Eternal Sunshine” takes its title from a line in the Alexander Pope poem “Eloisa and Abelard” in which the feature characters (of the poem) force themselves to choose a love for God over their love for one another. Abelard enters a monastery, Eloisa a convent where she is left to pray that she might never speak or write Abelard’s name again. In the film, the new God of science imposes on human emotions and it is Joel’s devotion to love that creates the conflict. With real memory altering drugs only five years off by some estimates (beta – blocker Propranolol is already being tested among victims of post traumatic stress disorder) such explorations into the significance of memory are no longer abstract philosophical quandaries, but essential topics for debate. “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” has more in common with its namesake than title, both are unquestionably works of poetry.
link directly to this review at https://www.hollywoodbitchslap.com/review.php?movie=8888&reviewer=362
originally posted: 03/27/04 13:23:11
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USA
19-Mar-2004 (R)
DVD: 04-Jan-2005
UK
N/A
Australia
15-Apr-2004 (M)
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