A Memorable Ride
Following on the coattails of 50 First Dates, director Michel Gondry's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind explores, instead of exploits, the power of memory and its visceral connection to love. The result is a brilliant bit of surrealist cinema, a love story told in reverse that would have made Luis Bunuel proud.
Joel (Jim Carrey) and Clementine (Kate Winslet) have been in love for a couple of years until, a few days before Valentine's Day, the couple breaks up. Clementine—a classic drama queen—overreacts and has her memories of Joel wiped out by Dr. Howard Mierzwiak (Tom Wilkinson). Discovering this, Joel retaliates by asking Dr. Mierzwiak to do the same. However (there's always a however), when he begins the brain wiping procedure, Joel realizes that his life with Clementine wasn't all that bad, so he sets out to hide his memories of her deep in his brain, resulting in one of the weirdest cat and mouse chases in the history of the movies.
But Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is more than some gimmicky sci-fi romantic comedy. Screenwriter Charlie Kaufman (Adaptation), like his literary counterpart Philip K. Dick, uses the science fiction conceit of the story to do a lot more. The story explores the role of good and bad memories in human relationships, the power of the mind to protect what it values most, and the visceral and almost uncontrollable pull of simple biological attraction. What Kaufman and his interpreter Gondry shows us is that bad memories help us to avoid making bad mistakes twice, good ones get us through the first-time mistakes, and that love is really all about communicating—and accepting the good and the bad at the same time.
That all of this is played out in the mind of the main character, and never spelled out by Kaufman in a big heartfelt speech replete with violins swelling in the background makes the weirdness of it all that much more fun, because we have to figure out what this strange ride is all about along with Joel. We, like him, are active participants in this weird, wonderful journey.
And even if you don't really buy into the story, the visual design is enough to grab any moviegoer. Gondry has somehow been able to take the inner life of a human being and put it up on the screen. Aided by the spare cinematography of Ellen Kuras (Blow), Gondry creates a half-realized dream world that is literally on the brink of blinking out at every turn.
Though the memory-wiping device is obviously the stuff of science fiction, Gondry doesn't give us some sort of super-sophisticated near future. Instead, the world is still painfully familiar with subways, Barnes and Nobles, and dingy apartments. The fact that Mierzwiak works out of a hole in the wall office is a nice touch and doesn't allow the script to move into the realm of the evil supervillain. In fact, there really aren't any villains to speak of—jerks, losers, and the misunderstood, yes—bad guys, no. Kaufman's conflict is even more basic than good and bad. He sees the drama as between male and female—the only conflicts in the movie, for the most part, are between men and women. And while this has all the earmarks of pessimism, the end holds out the promise of a fractured sort of hope, but hope all the same.
Rounding out the cast is Kirsten Dunst, Mark Ruffalo and Elijah Wood as Miezwiak's ne'er-do-well crew. Their stories, though not as thoroughly realized, counterpoint Joel and Clementine.
Eternal Sunshine's core, however, are the performances by Carrey and Winslet. Carrey does some of his best work here, carrying off the dramatic bits without any of his typical maudlin sappiness and keeps his manic side on low. Winslet, though, is the standout here. She's essentially playing two parts, the real Clementine and the Clementine of Joel's memories, the latter of which is an extension of Joel himself. It's a terrific performance at once dramatic, funny and weirdly disturbing.
As brilliant as the script is, it has a few weaknesses, particularly regarding the event that sets up the climax of the movie. Though necessary—Kaufman sort of paints himself into a dramatic causal corner—it is almost too deus ex machina to work, but it does.
That slight weakness aside, Gondry and Kaufman have given us one of the best and weirdest movies of the year, the kind of picture that will keep you thinking and guessing long after the lights come up in the theatre.
Joel (Jim Carrey) and Clementine (Kate Winslet) have been in love for a couple of years until, a few days before Valentine's Day, the couple breaks up. Clementine—a classic drama queen—overreacts and has her memories of Joel wiped out by Dr. Howard Mierzwiak (Tom Wilkinson). Discovering this, Joel retaliates by asking Dr. Mierzwiak to do the same. However (there's always a however), when he begins the brain wiping procedure, Joel realizes that his life with Clementine wasn't all that bad, so he sets out to hide his memories of her deep in his brain, resulting in one of the weirdest cat and mouse chases in the history of the movies.
But Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is more than some gimmicky sci-fi romantic comedy. Screenwriter Charlie Kaufman (Adaptation), like his literary counterpart Philip K. Dick, uses the science fiction conceit of the story to do a lot more. The story explores the role of good and bad memories in human relationships, the power of the mind to protect what it values most, and the visceral and almost uncontrollable pull of simple biological attraction. What Kaufman and his interpreter Gondry shows us is that bad memories help us to avoid making bad mistakes twice, good ones get us through the first-time mistakes, and that love is really all about communicating—and accepting the good and the bad at the same time.
That all of this is played out in the mind of the main character, and never spelled out by Kaufman in a big heartfelt speech replete with violins swelling in the background makes the weirdness of it all that much more fun, because we have to figure out what this strange ride is all about along with Joel. We, like him, are active participants in this weird, wonderful journey.
And even if you don't really buy into the story, the visual design is enough to grab any moviegoer. Gondry has somehow been able to take the inner life of a human being and put it up on the screen. Aided by the spare cinematography of Ellen Kuras (Blow), Gondry creates a half-realized dream world that is literally on the brink of blinking out at every turn.
Though the memory-wiping device is obviously the stuff of science fiction, Gondry doesn't give us some sort of super-sophisticated near future. Instead, the world is still painfully familiar with subways, Barnes and Nobles, and dingy apartments. The fact that Mierzwiak works out of a hole in the wall office is a nice touch and doesn't allow the script to move into the realm of the evil supervillain. In fact, there really aren't any villains to speak of—jerks, losers, and the misunderstood, yes—bad guys, no. Kaufman's conflict is even more basic than good and bad. He sees the drama as between male and female—the only conflicts in the movie, for the most part, are between men and women. And while this has all the earmarks of pessimism, the end holds out the promise of a fractured sort of hope, but hope all the same.
Rounding out the cast is Kirsten Dunst, Mark Ruffalo and Elijah Wood as Miezwiak's ne'er-do-well crew. Their stories, though not as thoroughly realized, counterpoint Joel and Clementine.
Eternal Sunshine's core, however, are the performances by Carrey and Winslet. Carrey does some of his best work here, carrying off the dramatic bits without any of his typical maudlin sappiness and keeps his manic side on low. Winslet, though, is the standout here. She's essentially playing two parts, the real Clementine and the Clementine of Joel's memories, the latter of which is an extension of Joel himself. It's a terrific performance at once dramatic, funny and weirdly disturbing.
As brilliant as the script is, it has a few weaknesses, particularly regarding the event that sets up the climax of the movie. Though necessary—Kaufman sort of paints himself into a dramatic causal corner—it is almost too deus ex machina to work, but it does.
That slight weakness aside, Gondry and Kaufman have given us one of the best and weirdest movies of the year, the kind of picture that will keep you thinking and guessing long after the lights come up in the theatre.
