An uneasy delight

Rating: Null/10 (29 April 2004)

'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind' is the latest film from the genius that is Charile Kaufman. Much like 'Being John Malcovich' and 'Adaption' it doesn't easily fit in with any genre definition. IMDB has it listed as a comedy/drama/romance/sci-fi, I'd also add 'fantasy' to that... it hops through the genre's with merry abandonment.
ESOTSM is about a couple (Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet) who are at the end of their relationship. Carrey's character, Joel, finds out that Winslet's character, Clementine, has had a procedure to erase him from her memories. Joel decides to undergo the same procedure.
The film is essentially about relationships. Joel is a complete introvert whereas Clementine is an extrovert. When these two polar opposites are attracted to each other the inevitable happens, the introvert is scared of losing the extrovert to someone "more interesting" and the extrovert feels like they can never be themselves. So through a complete lack of communication the relationship breaks down. While undergoing the mind erasing procedure Joel comes to realise this and feels he needs to change things, but first must find a way to stop the erasure process inside the confines of his memories.
*SPOILERS AHEAD*
A strong supporting cast backs the main themes up, with Kirsten Dunst as a young nurse called Mary. She's in love with her older married boss, and finds out that she was in love with before, but went through the procedure herself. It's a definite attempt to make the viewer realise that even although you can try to erase someone from your memories, your true feeling are still there, you can't erase them.
The patients who undergo the treatment have to make an audio tape before the procedure stating their problems with whoever they're erasing. Mary takes these tapes and sends them out to everyone along with a letter explaining what's happened. Joel and Clementine have just 'discovered' each other again when they receive the tapes, and Joel heres all about Clementines faults from himself while she's present, and vice versa.
In a way I feel like it's the perfect start to their "new" relationship. The two characters know each others bad points (the way the other viewed them at least) at the start of the relationship, and not at the end as per the usual. It got me thinking - maybe if you could get all those issues out in the open at the start of a relationship you could actually get on with the business of enjoying each other. However if you did actually know these things, would you stay or would you go? Both parties would have to hear the tapes at the same time - if the tapes were heard one at a time I think the other would run off, freaked out, believing the other to be a nut. Such is the confinements of social interactions unfortunately.

*END OF SPOILERS*
Kate Winslet is an absolute joy, she bring Clementine to life. She seems to revel in the part, and I think she gives her best performance to date. As someone said on the imdb boards, we see her at her "sweetest and hottest". Carrey is excellent too, proving yet again that his talents go far beyond pulling stupid faces. The supporting cast are all excellent, from Elijiah Wood's panties-stealing Patrick to Mark Rufallo's eccentric Stan. A special mention to Kirsten Dunst for a great performance as Mary, she plays a small but key role in the film, and her mannerisms make the character believable.

This is Michel Gondry's full-lenght feature (you might know his work from one of the Chemical Brothers music videos) and it's an absolute masterwork that I feel he's going to have a tough time topping. Alongside his cinematographer Ellen Kuras and editor Valdis Oskarsdottir (he's Icelandic and this is his first English-language feature) he has created something visually which I wouldn't have thought possible on screen - a perfectly flowing journey through someone's disjointed memories. The trip through Joel's memories is such a large part of the film that I really have a hard time getting my head round how long the sequence must have taken to create. The attention to detail is amazing, and the whole thing seems so real.

Kaufmun's script is so sharp it almost cuts you. Gondry co-wrote it with Kaufman, but from a rumour I've heard the only change Gondry actually made was to the ending. Whereas Kaufmun's was a lot darker and ironic, Gondry wanted the film to end in a positive light, but still retain an element of the original. The dialogue is absolutely fantastic. I guess one of the main reasons I loved it so much was that I feel most people could relate to the situations the characters found themselves in as we've all been there at some point in our life. I personally really empathised with Joel, and even some of the things he says sounded like things I've said/though myself in the past "How is it possible for me to fall in love 100 times a day" and especially "talking all the time isn't communicating".

The music is simply amazing, bringing thoughts of 'Lost in Translation' and also Paul Thomas Anderson's films. I wasn't surprised to learn that the music was created by Jon Brion who did the composition for 'Punch Drunk Love' and 'Magnolia'. The soundtrack is a defo on my 'must purchase' list.

'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind' is released in the UK on Friday 30th April 2004. It's already at 46 in the imdb top 250 films of all time, and I believe that for once with a recent film, it actually deserves to be there. Unfortunately I have a lot of other things I'd like to say about the film but can't, unless I give away the whole film. Needless to say I'd welcome comments from everyone after seeing it.