So ... different ...

Rating: 10/10 (11 September 2004)

Some movies reject the standard plots for movies and create their own inner workings, which make them perfect for heavy viewer who know the usual plots and can usually predict the whole movie after a few minutes. ESotSM delivers a much needed sense of originality and independence of the standard concepts, from the way the story develops to the refreshingly normal looking actors. Carrey and Winslet actually look like the typical boy or girl next door, hell, Winslet reminded me strongly of a young woman who works in the University. No perfect beauties, no flawless makeup, even the camera and the settings looked and felt realistic.
The story itself also has its appeal, which fascinated me for a while. Although modern diagnostic can detect areas of heightened activity while performing specific tasks, it will probably take a few centuries until mankind develops that kind of technique - if it is even possible (suggesting that the brain actually works with memories stored in specific areas ranging all over the brain instead of storing them in the whole neuronal network).
But the "what if" question is believable enough - and quite interesting. On the one hand, one would certainly feel betrayed if a part of the personality gets stripped away (even if one has decided to do so, afterwards one is a different person and may regret this change). But on the other - and reading the trivia section it's sad that this wasn't included in the movie - what about the really ugly memories. Not regarding a specific person you were in love with until you hated his guts, but the ones that give you nightmares (loosing a fellow soldier or being raped at an early age)? Should one erase those? Or are they a part of the person? Should they be worked out? And what if this is not possible?
Although the movie reduced the question to the shallow pains of lost loves (compared to psychological traumatas), it intensifies the conflict in this area. Hmmm, thinking about the time it took me to get over my last love, that technique would have saved me 2 years at least ...
All in all a really good movie, but only for a quiet evening. It's no adrenalin flick but one for the mind ...
10/10