re:mote voices

Title: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Cast: Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Elijah Wood, Mark Ruffalo, Jane Adams, Kirsten Dunst, Tom Wilkinson
Director: Michel Gondry

Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind is the latest film to come from the pen of screenwriter Charlie Kaufman, who has been the writer behind films like Being John Malkovich, Adaptation., and Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind. Particularly like Malkovich and Adaptation., Eternal Sunshine is in typical Kaufman territory – getting inside the head and the psychology of the individual. In this case there is more of a Phili K. Dick launching point than before, the idea of memory erasure being part of the key components of the recent Pay Check.

Jim Carrie and Kate Winslett take the lead roles of Joel and Clementine, a couple who meet and have being going out together for some times. However it becomes clear that things haven’t been going particularly well between them. As a result coming up for Valentine’s day, Clementine who is the more impulsive of the two has decided to break the relationship off. Part of which involves undergoing a new treatment, designed to remove all memories of certain events, in this case all memories of Joel. Looking to make up for a recent fight, Joel turns up at Clementine’s work with a gift, only to be entirely blanked. From this it is isn’t long before he finds out that she has had him erased, deciding that two can play that game, Joel goes in to have Clementine wiped from his mind.

Through the film we get a mix of present events and memories, with some bleed and distortion creeping in to the process as the film unfolds. Through this method we get an alternative form of narrative which provides an account of a relationship – early meetings, early bonding, gradual fights, regrettable comments that can’t be taken back. Flashing through the steps of each memory being removed Joel comes to the realisation that he really does still love Clementine and he really doesn’t want her removed from his mind, doesn’t want to lose the memories. This provides the twist, which makes the film more than the straight relationship story. Joel starts a fight to retain his memories, getting into that pure Kaufman territory of people running around inside the mind and playing with the idea of it’s structure.

Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind mixes a sense of humour with an increasing sense of the tragic. Mixing in a long the way some strong effect work, illustrating the distortion and erasure of memories, with memorable results.