A science-fiction romantic drama.

Rating: 9/10 (10 May 2020)

"Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" released in 2004 is directed by Michel Gondry and written by Charlie Kaufman. The main characters of the movie are "Clementine" and "Joel" played by Kate Winslet and Jim Carrey. They are helped out by a marvellous supporting cast led by Tom Wilkinson also including David Cross, Jane Adams, Mark Ruffalo, Kirsten Dunst and Elijah Wood.
Most movies reduce love to a greeting card sentiment. "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" on the other hand treats it as a subject for extended philosophical inquiry. The film is cerebral formally and conceptually complicated, dense with literary allusions and as unabashedly romantic as any movie you'll ever see. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a breakup drama, a romantic comedy but with one crucial element plucked from the universe of science fiction.
The movie opens, and we see a meet-cute between Clementine and Joel. "Kate Winslet" as Clementine is unforgettably charming and obnoxious and "Jim Carrey" as Joel is shy, sweet, anxious and sincere but after the meet-cute, the film skips into the future, and we see that Joel and Clementine have broken up. Joel Doesn't want to remember the terrible pain of breaking up, so he goes to a doctor played by "Tom Wilkinson" to erase Clementine from his memory.
As human we go through many tragedies in a lifetime, be it a breakup or death of a loved one. These tragedies or pain that we go through is part of human nature and the movie revolves around this very concept gracefully. This film presents the idea of a breakup in a hauntingly beautiful way. The movie reflects on the concept of loss and pain. "Joel" is a shy, timid person. He doesn't like taking risks; he doesn't like being spontaneous as opposed to "Clementine" being spontaneous and wild, so the idea of these two opposing personalities getting attracted to each other makes the movie so fascinating. The movie is captivating, universal, and most importantly, the characters in the film are so real. This movie will make one instantly connect with the characters and especially with Joel and Clementine with their situation.
Gondry and Kaufman have created a fantasy world and populated it with real people. Michel Gondry is amazingly resourceful and visually creative, seamlessly moving from reality into dreams and back again. Kaufman's script is fantastic, and on so many levels, the dialogue is witty and psychologically acute. The structure is wildly inventive and complex, and yet everything is held together by its coherent internal logic. Charlie Kaufman has an enormous brain, and this movie is bristling with ideas about time, desire, memory and the structure of human consciousness. The real achievement of this film is the way that it connects all the speculations to real, recognizable human emotions it suggests that the reason we think so much is that we feel so profoundly.