Would have been great, except spark is missing

Rating: Null/10 (5 April 2004)

We all know relationships are problematic. They must be especially so for Charlie Kaufman, whose screenplay for the 2004 film, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, revolves around a steamy relationship gone on the rocks. The film does a good job representing the convolutions of the internal mind of Joel (portrayed by Jim Carrey) as he undergoes a computerized `erasure' of all memory of Clementine, his estranged girlfriend (played by Kate Winslet). It is just the stuff we might expect of the author of Being John Malkovich and Adaptation. And these convolutions are convincingly visualized in the dream scenes of director Michel Gondry, thereby giving the film on-screen energy. But the relationship on which the story is based lacks a sense of veracity, at least in this viewer's mind.
No one can say with certainty what energy drives two people into a relationship because no two love stories are the same, a tribute to the complexities of mindset and circumstance. While lust often plays an important early role in a developing relationship, experience teaches that something else must be happening by the time the allure of sex has faded if the relationship is not to die of starvation.
So, here we have Joel and Clem, for whom the power of passion has passed. At least it seems to have for Clementine, who undergoes an `erasure' so she can move on from her relationship with Joel. Discovering he has been so thoroughly dumped, Joel decides he, too, will undergo the erasure procedure. The conflict emerges when Joel gets cold feet mid-procedure and conspires with his memory of Clementine to thwart the erasure even while it is in progress.
The screenplay develops many interesting situations out of this clever conceit, thanks to the fertile imaginations of the writers (Kaufman shares writing credit with Gondry and Pierre Bismuth). But the energy of the relationship between Joel and Clem is never fleshed out, never given a convincing life. The characters are given human flaws: Joel is shy, can't look strange girls in the eye and has his razor set on `yesterday,' while Clem is capricious and has a weakness for alcohol and weird hair colors. But we never understand what inspired her to throw herself at him, beyond her impulsiveness, or what made her attractive to him, beyond her sitting in his lap. These may be reasons enough for a tryst, but are unconvincing as motivation for Joel to fight off the erasure.
Perhaps it comes down to definitions. Would you define this film as a bizarre love story or a bizarre story with a love interest? I believe the love story is more central to film than the bizarre story. Admittedly, depicting the spark that ignites a relationship is a difficult task. In Eternal Sunshine, the portrayal of the relationship between Joel and Clem is unpersuasive and leads me to find the film flawed for giving the love story insufficient attention.