Great to find a movie with a fresh idea!

Rating: 10/10 (29 March 2004)

I enjoy the way Charlie Kaufman. Much like Being John Malkovich and Adaptation, Kaufman riddles the mind with what ifs and pushes screenwriting to its limits. He writes films that make you think.
*Here might be spoilers, read at your own risk!*
Eternal Sunshine is a wonderful film. It brings up the idea that memories cannot be erased even if we try. They are still inside of us, no matter what we do. Many characters try to change themselves by erasing memories of their loves and obsessions, but can those memories actually die? Or will they fall into the same patterns again and be attracted to the same people?
The main plot is about the love relationship between Clem and Joel. One night, the impulsive Clem has walked out in a puff from a major fight. She has found out from a mutual friend of theirs a new treatment at a clinic that will erase Joel from her mind. Thinking him boring and repressive, she does the treatment and then doesn't notice it is him when he comes into her workplace with a Valentine's Day make up present. In fact, she even has a new boyfriend.
Upset, Joel has the treatment done too...but along the way, we find out the doctor and other people who work at the clinic are using the treatment and the memories of others to weasel themselves in and out of people's lives. The character of Mary, seeks out the treatment because she is obsessed with someone she can't have. One of the other workers uses Joel's memories of Clem to try to seduce her (which is strange to me since she is erasing Joel out of her memory, but to each their own...) to ill effects.
I won't spoil the ending, but I thought the plot line was deep and brought up philosophical questions like:
What is memory? Does memory make us what we are and if we lost one, do we lose part of ourselves too? Is it better overall to live with a few bad memories if we also have the nice ones? If we erased someone from memory, would we still be attracted to them? If this memory wiping service was available, would you use it and on whom...and why? Is a person you were intimate with ever truly gone?
After the movie, I discussed all of these with the friend I saw it with. Any movie that does that is amazing in my book. The idea of Eternal Sunshine is fresh and fun, it keeps you guessing what will happen and wondering what JUST happened. This is the future of movies and with each movie, Charlie Kaufman improves and gets more socially relevant and witty on the quick draw. If you like intelligent, original films, you must go out and watch this film!