Although I have a soft spot for a few romance films, what makes Charlie Kaufman and Michel Gondry’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind such a masterpiece is that it is far from a typical love story. While the 2004 film might bear some similarities with other films of the genre, its originality sets it apart from the rest, with a plot that explores a timeless subject matter through a futuristic premise.
After Joel (Jim Carrey) learns that his ex-girlfriend Clementine (Kate Winslet) has undergone a radical new procedure that has erased all of her memories of him, he decides to do the same thing as a form of revenge. The film primarily takes place in Joel’s mind as workers at this new venture spend an entire night sifting through his memories, so that in the morning he won’t remember anything about the woman he once loved.
The film explores a very grounded relationship, with two characters who genuinely feel like real people, but uses an inventive plot to completely reshape how a typical romance story plays out. Eternal Sunshine’s engaging premise takes the pair’s complexity even further, with the procedure not just accomplishing its intended purpose but fundamentally altering who Joel and Clementine are. Robbed of the closure of their relationship ending, there is an unresolved part of them that becomes doomed to seek the very thing they wanted to forget all about.
It’s terrifying to imagine such a procedure existing in real life, something that could destroy relationships and identities, ensuring long-term problems as it purports to alleviate suffering in the immediate moment. It’s easy to imagine how this issue could go far beyond romantic relationships, resulting in people choosing to forget about loved ones who have passed away so they don’t have to suffer through the pain of their absence.
Exploring such ideas is far from the norm in romance movies, which typically present idyllic relationships that allow viewers to lose themselves in escapism over the fantasy laid before them. There is great value to be had with artworks of this kind, which can often be a very soothing and relaxing form of entertainment, but diverging from these expectations is what makes Eternal Sunshine so impressive. It doesn’t just address these forms of escapism, it takes them to their logical endpoint, where humanity is doomed with the advent of a procedure that encourages people to continually pine for an idyllic, pain-free life. Any negative experience can be pried free from someone who doesn’t want to live with the memory of it. While it’s always upsetting when love stories don’t end with a harmonious union, this film implies a far more tragic fate for lovers, where such heartbreak can simply be forgotten about.
This would inhibit self-growth, since people would never be able to use their past experiences to reflect or change their ways of thinking or behaving. Joel and Clementine both learn over the course of this film that they have made a grave mistake, but at first their decision seems like the only appropriate way to deal with their sorrow. Joel is already struggling with him and Clementine breaking up, but knowing that he will be the only one of them undergoing this suffering presents a uniquely profound kind of loneliness. They are the only two people who will ever realise the depths of their bond, and now he is alone in shouldering that burden.
Starting off with the end of his and Clementine’s relationship and the memories at the forefront of the former couple’s minds when they undergo the procedure, we are tricked into thinking they made the correct choice. This is just one of a myriad of ways that screenwriter Charlie Kaufman manipulates time to keep the viewer on their toes, providing an invigorating first-watch experience, with added details that reward multiple viewings.
Watching these two bitter people finding it impossible to stomach one another suggests that missing out on these interactions doesn’t sound so bad. But then, as we work backwards through their relationship, their positive moments together begin to emerge. Cherished memories stick out in Joel’s mind as he experiences them again in real-time and attempts to alter their shape. If he just stays in one beloved moment just a little longer, he reasons, maybe it won’t be lost to him the following morning. He desperately tries to deny his fate, even chasing after Clementine in one scene as she walks away from him with one leg missing, just one of the clever ways this film depicts his memories falling apart before his very eyes.
Recognising his powerlessness in the face of technology, this is when the film becomes horrifying to imagine in reality. While high-concept sci-fi stories with feuding legions and warring spaceships are entertaining, I have always felt that the best science fiction stories use an unrealistic premise to explore the realities of the human condition. As well as being a heartfelt and moving tribute to a doomed relationship, this film is a brilliant dissection of how erasing specific memories robs humanity of its most urgent needs.
As the popular saying from poet Alfred Lord Tennyson goes, “‘tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all”. Eternal Sunshine is a painful and beautiful reminder of this. It also shows that for as enjoyable as it is to sink into escapist love stories with characters that seem destined to be together, it is also worth celebrating the messy, and sometimes painful, reality of love and relationships.
Words by Cian McGrath
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