Third Time is a Charm

Rating: 9/10 (19 January 2005)

I started to watch Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and after first 15 minutes I realized I could not turn it off and drive to work (which I was supposed to do). I did what Jim Kerry's character Joel did  I called my boss and left her a message that I would be late. I stayed home and I watched the film. I cried, I laughed, I sighed, I felt  I lived through it. There are not so many films that we don't just watch but live through  for me, ESotSM was that. Finally, the Charlie Kaufman's film that I absolutely love. "Being John Malkovich" amused me; "Adaptation" irritated me  too much of Charlie in there for my taste even if he looked like Nic Cage. Eternal Sunshine is Kaufman's masterpiece about relationships, memories, reality, and about intolerance, impatience, inability to listen to the others, to understand them. How easy it is to insult the one you love the most. How difficult it is to forgive yourself for that. How often we rely on the modern technology to fix our inner problems. How seldom we realize that painful and happy memories go together. You can not get rid of ones and keep the others. It may not be the best romance film ever but it is damn close. It is a tender and poignant Valentine Card that Kaufman sent to all of us  to remind us that the love exists, that relationships can survive, and even if they die, we have the memories of them, and nobody or nothing can take our memories from us. Is it just a coincidence that Kaufman references for the second time to the tragic and great love of Eloisa and Abelard in his works?
I applaud to Michel Gondry for his brilliant directing; to the supporting cast, including Tom Wilkinson, Mark Ruffalo, and Kirsten Dunst. Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet played their best roles ever and I hope to see Carrey more often in the dramatic performances. But in the beginning of everything there was a word  without Kaufman's screenplay the film would not have happened. Thank you, Charlie.