Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind- 4 Stars

The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a beautiful sci-fi romance from brilliant screenwriter Charlie Kaufman. It stars Kate Winslet and Jim Carey as a couple in an alternate universe where it is possible to remove someone from your memory.

Theatrical Release Poster

The film is all that you would expect from a Kaufman film- it's funny, moving, thoughtful and even romantic at times. The cast are of course brilliant as you would expect from Winslet and Carey, and with a supporting cast that includes Elijah Wood, Mark Ruffalo, Kirsten Dunst and Tom Wilkinson the acting is very strong. You should be warned, however, that although the film stars Jim Carey, his ability to pull silly faces is kept to a minimum.The film is, like all of Kaufman's films, rather surreal and non linear with most of the plot actually taking place in Joel's mind as he tries to stop his memories of Clementine (Kate Winslet) from being erased from his memory.

OK so is there anything bad about the film? Well Joel is a little hard to identify with, especially at first. He's quiet and rather uninteresting. But of course, as time goes by the character grows on you as you get to know him. Now perhaps the impatient viewer might find this annoying but actually it is a brilliant idea from Kaufman. Just as Clementine gets to know Joel over time so do we the audience. We see him grow and become more out going as a character. Kaufman is of course, very subtle in his character development. There is no cliched hero arc for Joel- his character does not completely change from a shy, generally nice guy to a gutsy action star. No his character rather changes in a more discreet way. Instead of being overly shy he becomes slightly more confident. By the end of the film he is no longer content to watch things pass him by and instead is willing to actually try and help himself out. Not a huge change, but a more realistic and touching one instead.

Are there actually any proper criticisms of the film? Hmm, well the supporting cast, although essential to the films plot do feel a little underdeveloped and certainly the least interesting scenes in are the ones away from Carey and Winslet. The relationship between Mary (Kirsten Dunst) and her boss Howard (Tom Wilkinson) feels a little contrived. The film perhaps slows in some areas, again scenes without Carey or Winslet. However, all in all, the film is very solid and has few flaws.

Eternal Sunshine is full of Kaufman wackiness

So what are the good points about the film? Well the most important point is that the relationship conceived between Joel and Clementine is not only utterly believable but very touching as well. The complete contrast in their personalities (Clementine being very outgoing and forthcoming about her problems whilst Joel is shy and quiet) creates both awkward humour and a realisation that perhaps love isn't about finding someone just like you but in fact someone who fits with you well. The 'you complete me' cliche springs to mind. However, this is a Charlie Kaufman film so cliches are strictly prohibited or if found are done in such a way that you a) don't recognise them or b) they are in the middle of so much wacky stuff that they feel comforting rather than laughable.

Who knew you could do so much with hair?

Kate Winslet's hair is another brilliant touch to this film ( I kid you not). Clementine's hair changes with her mood e.g. red when she's angry. This again fits with her character of expressing herself in contrast to Joel's closed personality which is shown by having his hair over his eyes, trying to bar him from the world.

So before I end this review I do have to talk about the themes of the film. Right, so the main theme of the film is obviously memory. Joel tries to have his erased but then regrets it as does just about every single other character in the film. Therefore, what I think Kaufman is saying is that we shouldn't try ignore or blank out horrible sections of our lives. Instead we should learn from them and move on. Improve ourselves as human beings. This is particularly apparent through the character of Joel. We see how he is before his relationship with Clementine- awkward, shy and slightly creepy. Then his experience of a relationship makes him grow more confident and expressive. Part of the tension in the film is created through the worry that if his memories of Clementine get erased then Joel will go back to being the boring, unexciting guy from the beginning.

Related to memory is the theme of identity. Patrick (Elijah Wood) steals notes from Joel's relationship with Clementine in order to woo her himself. In a way Patrick has assumed Joel's identity. What Kaufman is trying to say is that if we have parts of our memories erased are we still the same person? If our experiences make us what we are surely when we have them erased we lose part of our identity?

In conclusion, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is moving, intelligent and occasionally funny film with brilliant acting and direction, thoughtful themes, sharp dialogue and a genuinely beautiful and realistic romance.

Ratings: Entertainment: 9 Intelligence: 4 Technical: 4= 17/20 ****





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