"Random thoughts for Valentine's Day, 2004"
"Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" opens with this line, on this day, exactly 10 years ago. We meet Joel Barish(Jim Carrey), an introverted man who spontaneously decides to ditch work and take a train to Montauk instead. Once there, on the beach, he spots a woman wearing a bright orange sweater and is immediately attracted to her. The woman is Clementine Kruczynski(Kate Winslet), and on the train ride back home, they hit it off. Clementine is edgy, impulsive, and a little nutty. Joel appears to only want to share his thoughts with his journal. They are total opposites who seem to have been destined to meet on this particular day.
After a successful first date the next night, things seem to be going great between Joel and Clementine, when suddenly the movie appears to jump ahead to a post-breakup scene of a distraught Joel in his car. The quirky score gives a feeling that something strange is going on, and that's because the movie has actually jumped backwards, to the night before Valentine's Day and the end of Joel and Clementine's first relationship. I remember being a little confused by this when I first saw the movie, but it all makes perfect sense once you know what to look for. Every detail in this movie is meticulously thought out and it demands the viewer's utmost attention in order to be able to take it all in.
From this point forward, the movie presents Joel and Clementine's entire first relationship in reverse order, from their last bitter fight to when they first met, all inside Joel's mind. This scenario is presented beautifully thanks to Charlie Kaufman's groundbreaking Academy Award winning screenplay and Michel Gondry's excellent direction. Kaufman's screenplay takes us on an incredible journey inside Joel's mind, but we never feel lost. The entire team of artists collaborating on this film blended marvelously together to create a truly revelatory work of art. This includes the creative use of visual effects, the terrific cinematography and editing, the beautiful original score, and the perfect cast.
Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet both give extraordinary performances playing against type. It's as if the movie was supposed to be about Julia and Clement but each actor decided they preferred the other's part. Carrey's performance represents a career peak, and 10 years later he's still without an Academy Award nomination(Boo!), and will probably never receive another role as good as this one. Winslet received the only other Oscar nomination for the film, losing her bid for Best Actress. She would win an Oscar on her 6th nomination, in 2008 for The Reader, a much safer performance than the one she gives as Clementine. The supporting cast, led by Kirsten Dunst and Tom Wilkinson, also gets to shine.
The strange attraction that draws Joel and Clementine together in the beginning of the film is down to the fact that, until very recently, they were lovers. After their last fight, Clementine decided to erase Joel from her memory. When Joel learns about this, he decides to do the same. What neither of them counted on was on the human condition to seek out what we love and what we crave. We all have natural feelings and impulses that lead us to act in certain ways. Once Joel becomes self aware inside his head and realizes what is going on, he tries to stop it. His memories of Clementine are being erased one by one, and when he reaches the happier moments of their relationship, he regrets his decision.
"Please let me keep this memory ... just this one"
When his pleas are not answered, Joel enlists the help of his projection of Clementine in order to escape the procedure and preserve their memories together. Since Clementine is the impulsive one, she comes up with all the ideas. It's Clementine who says to Joel: "Wake Yourself Up". She also suggests he should hide her in his most buried memories, moments of childhood angst and teenage humiliation. They manage to get "off track", but not for long. Once they reach their final memory together, Clementine suggests one final thing: "Meet me in Montauk". It's safe to assume that Clementine had the same impulse during her procedure, in order for them to find each other back where they first met.
'How happy is the blameless vestal's lot/
The world forgetting by the world forgot/
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind/
Each pray'r accepted and each wish resign'd'
Kirsten Dunst's character, Mary Svevo, recites this quote, from the poem "Eloisa to Abelard" by Alexander Pope, to Dr. Howard Mierzwyak of Lacuna Inc. while he erases Joel's memories of Clementine. Throughout the movie, Mary is the biggest supporter of this procedure and its ability to give adults a fresh start. Her perspective changes, however, when she declares her love for Howard and subsequently learns they had a past relationship which had been erased from her memory. The film never shows us anything about Mary's procedure, same as Clementine. What we do know is that Mary was able to recapture the same feelings she had for Dr. Mierzwyak in the past.
That same impulse is the one the process can't erase. It's the reason why Joel and Clementine were able to find each other again and it's the reason Mary falls in love with Howard all over again. All humans have impulses, feelings, and desires that will make us seek out the things we love, the things we crave, and the things that inspire us. Mary immediately realizes all the negative effects this procedure can have on someone and decides to send all the files the company has to every one of its former clients, including Joel and Clementine. In the poem Mary recites, "Eloisa" is envious of others who have no memories of heartbreak to torment them, similar to how Mary felt before she learned about her past.
Would we really be happier if we were able to forget our sad memories? This is the central question posed in "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" and the film gives a resounding answer: NO!
When we look back on our relationships, it's easier to go in reverse order. The most recent memories are the freshest in our minds. We tend to forget many details from those first tender moments with our partners, but we usually remember most details from some of the more recent, unpleasant moments. "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" tells us that we should do all we can to preserve all of our precious memories. Each one of our memories, the good and the bad, make us who we are today. We accept that there will be bad memories because this allows us to experience the great ones. In the final scene, Joel and Clementine come to this realization, even after hearing everything they're not gonna like about each other. They both say "OK" because they know that a lifetime of good memories is worth the plenty of bad ones that will probably occur.
What if you or I were faced with this situation? Would we be able to make the same decision as Joel and Clementine? I know my answer would be an emphatic "OK".
Aside from marking the release of "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind", 2004 is also special in my life because it was the year I met my wife. We met on a bus, not a train, but like Joel and Clementine, we seemed to be destined to find each other. If someone would've come up to me right when we met and told me a list of all of her annoying habits, which I would come to "lovingly" hate all these years later, would I still have "taken the plunge"? ABSOLUTELY!!! In the last 10 years we have created so many wonderful memories together that far outweigh all the negative ones we've also had. You learn to take the bad with the good, and when the good includes traveling the world, our wedding day, starting a family, and other UNFORGETTABLE moments, the bad becomes something you can definitely live with.
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment