"Once fell in love and it was a gas/Soon turned out, I had a Heart Of Glass..."

Rating: 9/10 (29 March 2006)

There's something that every great writer worth his weight in Number Two pencils knows about love, (as did the immortal Debbie Harry when she sang the phrase above). And it's this: as fragile as it is and therefore worth handling with the utmost care, none of us really know a damn thing about it or how to deal with it. Besides, when we fall in love with someone and they with us, we're not falling for one person, but three: the one that swept us off our feet in the first place; the person whom we hope they will become as we grow old together, and the person that they really are at the end of the day.
And as our loved ones are a trio and not just one personality, our relationships ebb and flow in three stages: love's first rapturous blush, the "big reveal" as we begin to find out things about this person that we love and hate, and the Last Stage, when the bloom is completely off the rose, and you have a decision to make--continue the journey on together, or find another traveling companion.
All of the above and more is eloquently and brilliantly expressed in one of the best movies ever made on the subject, ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND. It comes as no big surprise that the co-author of this damn-near perfect deconstruction of desire and disappointment is one Charlie Kaufman (BEING JOHN MALKOVICH, ADAPTATION). One of the bigger shocks is that the other writer and director is Michel Gondry, to whose work I have only been previously exposed via the hit-and-miss Robin Williams vehicle HUMAN NATURE. (Thank goodness that my first impression wasn't at all accurate. Ditto for Kaufman, who was just "testing his swing" before hitting a homer with MALKOVICH.)
We begin by meeting everyman Joel Barish (Jim Carrey), a nice if somewhat non-descript guy, living a pretty much non-descript existence, his hopes, dreams, fears and desires neatly compartmentalized from the rest of his life inside his journal. Joel is sensible, practical, polite, thoughtful and never, ever impulsive. Then, he meets his polar opposite, Clementine, (Kate Winslet exploding out of Corset World). She is erratic, impulsive, confrontational, messy, intrusive and everything Joel couldn't possibly be on his worst day without Starbuck's. There is no reason on God's green earth they should be attracted to each other, but what do ya know? They are.
And things go great for awhile, then from great to good, good to okay, okay to not-so-good, etc. When it gets beyond the last stage, Clementine decides that she wants Joel erased from her life forever, and as she is prone to do, she impulsively goes to a place called Lacuna, Inc., which specializes in just that...erasures. They literally wipe the slate clean - that slate being your mind - so that no trace and no memories of your ex will ever plague you again.
Already heartbroken, when the devastated Joel learns what Clementine has done, he decides to do the same...only to discover (or re-discover) that not all the times they had together were awful, and that some memories are worth keeping forever, no matter what. And what he decides to do to try and hold on to those memories are where the story really kicks into gear, turning sublime, silly and very sad all at once.
The joys and sorrows of discovering a tale this remarkable are always best experienced without a lot of foreknowledge, and that's how I will leave the more startling and surprising details...for you to find.
All I can say is this: if no one had ever seen a Jim Carrey film before and this was his introduction to the world, it would be like seeing Tom Hanks for the first time. That is how complete and profound his transformation is into Joel. We like him, we REALLY, REALLY like him, and though we hardly want to see him suffer, we realize soon enough that what he goes through with "darlin' Clementine" is totally necessary to transform them both into better people.
Oh, yes, and there's Clemmy, herself. I always knew that Kate was dying to sink her teeth into a role that didn't require a corset and a bustle. (Helena Bonham Carter, eat your heart out!) If you are still wincing over TITANIC'S thick treacle, her performance in SUNSHINE will come as a tart but tasty surprise.
And kudos must be given to the strong supporting cast. Kirsten Dunst showing a winsomeness she hasn't accessed in many moons; Elijah Wood in a role that is somehow slimy, pathetic and yet movingly sympathetic; Tom Wilkinson, Jane Adams and David Cross whose solid and invaluable work is integral to the plot, (but can't be commented on here without giving up some glaring spoilers), and Mark Ruffalo, who does the nearly impossible by making man-boy geekiness sexy.
Most of all, we have to go back and high-five director Gondry, DP Ellen Kuras and editor Valdis Oskarsdottir for recognizing the special story that Kaufman fashioned, for letting it breathe and allowing it to go where it needed...to show the destructive and transforming power of love, and how and WHY we need it, no matter how high it lifts us up...or how hard it lets us fall.
Everyone will take something different away from this, so see it with someone you're dating...or even someone you're breaking up with. You never know what might happen, and even at the worst times, there could still be good that comes from it...just ask Joel and Clem.