Film review: Eternal Sunshine of The Spottless Mind

 

In research for the film I making I wanted to know if there’s a movie that has tackled a concept like what we are doing. Eventually I came across Eternal Sunshine of the spotless mind. This movie also tackles the concept of the main character interacting with his past memories, they are not flash backs but more of the character reliving past events and already knowing the outcome. Which is similar to how we approach our story with our main character reliving through his past mistakes.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, directed by Michel Gondry and written by Charlie Kaufman, is a deeply introspective and visually exquisite film that explores the complexities of memory, love, and identity. It is a subversion of the romantic genre of films in that it deviates from the conventional clichés of most romance films. the film also combines two genres of film that are not typically seen together, Syfy and romance. The film can be said to have a hybrid genre due to this.

It's the story of Joel (Jim Carrey) and Clementine (Kate Winslet), a couple who, after a bitter breakup, have a medical procedure to have each other removed from their memory. As Joel's memories are erased, he relives the highs and lows of his relationship with Clementine, progressively realizing that despite their differences and the pain they caused one another, their love was so very significant.

It is a thought experiment in the form of memory elimination. Whether we would delete all those memories that in retrospect have become painful memories. In other words, is it better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.

Through his use of surrealistic, dreamlike imagery, Gondry directs Joel's subconscious as he tries to fight what's happening in his head; his creation of a world where reality is constantly shifting. The cinematography of the film makes us (the audience) feel that we are actually in the mind of Joel. The set design, costume design, and editing via clever transitions makes this look seem less as they go through different memories. Each memory is for a specific purpose

Jim Carrey played a surprisingly different role compared to his other whacky characters. He played a stoic, sad, every man who was not perfect but still had good in his heart. We saw how his mistakes made him who he is. His acting was amazing, making us root for him throughout and sympathize with his struggles. His portrayal of a man trying to come to terms with regret and emotional vulnerability is so poignant, so heart-wrenching.

 Equally brilliant is Kate Winslet as Clementine, capturing her eccentricity and emotional complexity with ease. she technically plays different versions of Clementine, the real version and Joel’s past memory version with each played in subtly different ways but nonetheless are supposed to be the same character. Her acting is fantastic throughout and we can also sympathize with her side of the story. She contrasts Joel’s character as they feel polar opposite but in a weird way they are meant for each other as we see why in events that transpire in the movie. The chemistry between the two adds layers to their tumultuous relationship, making their eventual connection deeply touching. The side characters are nice additions to the story but are not fully developed. However, they are not the focus of the narrative. All the characters feel real, like they have real emotions and real lives. Acting is superb across everybody

The story is not structured chronologically, as we later find out that the events that occurred in the beginning actually were future events, which was a twist and sub verted audience expectations. This means the beginning scenes were a flash forward and the film comes to a full circle at the end. It also made the audience more engage in the story as they had to piece together and figure out by themselves about this twist.

Camera shots, movement, and angles: One of the most salient features in the cinematography of the movie is the way it uses uncommon camera angles and shots. For instance, the movie quite often uses Dutch angles, with the camera at a tilt, therefore making the character's emotional turmoil translate into disorientation and unease. Furthermore, extreme close-ups of faces and objects pull the viewer right into the intimate, often painful world of Joel and Clementine's memories. Equally impressive is its camera movement that moves smoothly from being handheld through tracking to static shots. Handheld camera work-especially in all those memory-erasing scenes-relays a sense of urgency and chaos, much like the frantic and disorienting nature of the experience. In contrast, the static shots are often reflective and offer the viewer stillness with which to consider the deep implications of what these characters are doing. Additionally, the cinematography in the movie has impressively used visual metaphors to help develop the story being unfolded. Water shots are repetitive, symbolizing fluidity for memory and the passing of time. Distorted reflections in puddles and window glass also emphasized the fragmented nature of distorted human memories.

Mise en scene: As I said above, the costume and set design was noteworthy, I specifically remember a scene where it was set in one of Joel’s baby memories, where Jim carry was acting like a baby and set was made bigger like the table made comically large so that Joel looked small (baby like size). This was a very creative way of showing this specific memory as Joel is such a child. The blocking of the characters in the scene was incredible piece of camera work as the way they were positioned with the camera made Joel seem tiny in comparison to clementine as Joel is to be presented as a baby. It is also comical to see a clearly adult male act and be presented as a baby. The memory wipe machine prop and its reading also looked very realistic.

Sound- the sound track was unique, having a mix of whimsical and gloomy. It was enhanced with the visuals and work together to make a great product. The sound effects for the machine that was for the memory wipe surgery which made me feel that it is a real machine. The ADR was solid and the characters could be heard clearly.

Editing- the editing was smooth, specifically how in the movie it showed going from one dream scene to the next. Many of the cuts were precise and had a reason to be there. Moreover, there were a few match cuts and exaggerated transition to create a dream like feeling.

Macro elements:  it is a wonderfully unique love story as it uses the advantages of being a hybrid genre of mixing different genres to create an engaging and subversive narrative. As I said before, the movie is not in chronological order, the narrative is a nonlinear structured. One of the criticisms of the film can be said that the representation is lacking as all main and side characters are white, not representing other ethnicities. However, woman are present roughly equally in the movie.

Rating: overall, the movie is a fantastical tale about how are past memories can be a painful in retrospective but they should be cherished and learned from. I would give this movie a 4 out 5, highly recommend to anyone who wants to see a love story unlike any other.