"Please let me keep this memory, just this one."

Rating: 10/10 (27 February 2007)

It's approximately 4:30AM as I am writing this. I've just watched Charlie Kaufman's (as well as Michel Gondry's, of course) most absolute masterpiece once again, and I'm literally trembling with emotion. It saddens me that because of my lacking vocabulary there is no way I'd be able to express the state of mind that I'm currently in, but oh man, I have to try.
For some people it's Casablanca with Humphrey Bogart's irresistible charm and Ingrid Bergman's divine beauty, for some it's Chocolat with the ever so handsome hippie-like Johnny Depp, but for me the greatest love story ever caught on film and the one film that I will be watching over and over again for as long as I shall live is Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. With scenes filled with such emotion and such beauty, like the rain sequence with Joel's childhood coming to play, it triggers something so profound in me, that it's simply impossible to describe in words.
I have recently gone through a rough patch with my girlfriend, and through my difficulties I find it even more satisfying to watch the main characters' story evolve (or devolve, actually) with such plausible dialogue and with such honesty in details.
The heart and soul of this film really are the actors, mainly Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet. They share such enviable chemistry and just seem so perfect for each other, even in moments of argument. Opposites attract, and with Carrey as the insecure and mellow Joel Barish and Winslet as the lively, slightly bipolar Clementine Kruczynski, they make the perfect on-screen couple. Carrey and Winslet are also supported by some great performances by Kirsten Dunst, Mark Ruffalo, Elijah Wood and Tom Wilkinson.
The film of course wouldn't be anything if it weren't for Michel Gondry and his unique visual style that gives the film the kind of hand-made look it graves. With little computer-effects, most of the work is done by hand, thus keeping the film even more in the ground as opposed to plunging into CGI-scifi. The color themes and the contrasts that Gondry uses are all coherent and brilliantly selected, and cinematographer Ellen Kuras is doing an amazing job with her raw visual style that fits seamlessly into Gondry's vision. The soundtrack is another thing that deserves endless praise, Beck's bittersweet "Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime" is just one of the high points.
But it's the story of these two lovers, struggling through their difficulties only to once again find the joy they once shared, that makes this film the masterpieces that it is. It is only by a collaboration of remarkably talented individuals, that something like this can be achieved.
"Love conquers all" might be a worn-out phrase, but after seeing this film it's a little easier to believe that there might be some truth behind it after all.
It is now 5AM, and I am already yearning back into the film's world, back into the lives of Joel Barish and Clementine Kruczynski. I am in love all over again.