Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind
iView Author: Jehan Handa (Delhi, India)
Email: jehanhanda580 [At] yahoo [DOT] co [DOT] in
Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind
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Satyajit Ray, Federico Fellini, Christopher Nolan, David Lynch, now Charlie Kaufman and Michael Gondry. As I shut my laptop, I felt like switching it on again, and watching it again. After watching the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind two times, I still want to watch it a few more times. And I can’t get enough of it. Seriously! I came out telling myself that I still have a long cinematic journey to cover, and till date this was my best cinematic experience. Maybe a bit too late. Better late than never I guess. Tsk Tsks Golmaal Returns and Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi.
After reading innumerous articles on PFC about Charlie Kaufman, I was eager to watch his work. ‘Complicated’ ‘confusing’ ‘you’ll have to watch it many times’. Most of the people reacted like this, and I wanted to start off with a comparitively easier film. And thus the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. The initial idea of two people in a tumultous relationship, trying to erase the bad memories through a fictitious procedure, it amazed me. This movie joins Kaufman’s best work in its maddening yet satisfying ability to stay with you and hound you for further answers.
This is the story of a guy, Joel, who discovers that his long-time girlfriend, Clementine, has undergone a psychiatrist’s experimental procedure in which all of her memory of Joel is removed, after the couple has tried for years to get their relationship working fluidly. Frustrated by the idea of still being in love with a woman who doesn’t remember their time together, Joel agrees to undergo the procedure as well, to erase his memories of Clementine. The film, which takes place mostly within Joel’s mind, follows his memories of Clementine backwards in time as each recent memory is replaced, and the procedure then goes on to the previous one, which is likewise seen, and then erased. Once the process starts, however, Joel realizes he doesn’t really want to forget Clementine, so he starts smuggling her away into parts of his memory where she doesn’t belong which alters other things about his memories as well…
But between having the initial idea and eventually watching the film in a month’s time, I had many different ideas of how the movie will actually be. I had a total Bollywood-ish interpretation, with the beautiful memories being shown inside his mind. Like playing in the snow, kissing in the rain, and sugary stuff. And then he eventually doesn’t want to erase the sweet memories.
But No…
It didn’t work like this. Charlie Kaufman created an astonishing screenplay that bound me for 1 hour and 47 minutes of its playing time. Excellent! As I said the best cinematic experience I had faced, and I stand true to my word, atleast the screenplay was one of the best ones ever produced. But again being a true Bollywoody, at times, and at certain scenes, I wanted to add the drama quotient. I wanted to make it a bit senti. I wanted the viewer to cry a bit, maybe a sad background score, maybe a couple of minutes added to some scenes, maybe a bit of ‘lying on the floor’ crying. It didn’t happen, fortunately. And that’s why it was amazing. It was restricted, it didn’t give the viewer time to think on a particular scene, it was quick to move on, and to quickly stun you every scene.
Screenwriter Kaufman, who devised the story with Pierre Bismuth and director Michel Gondry, usually specializes in being too hip for the room — or the mainstream room, anyway .But underneath the hip, heady exterior beats a heart that yearns to understand the heart’s vicissitudes. Your typical Kaufman protagonist is driven round the bend by insecurity versus passion — the head versus the heart.
Joel wishes to remove the bad memories, and wants to cling onto the sweet memories, and that being impossible for the Lacuna Inc (the organisation who does it), the way he is shown being detached from the memories is simply mesmerising. He reaches one beautiful memory of a time when things were good with Clementine, and he doesn’t want to let it go. So he and the memory-Clementine become fugitives from the ruthless Lacuna computer as it systematically locates and destroys each bit of the brain that houses a Clementine memory. Within Joel’s brain, the lovers go on the run, hiding inside memories that have nothing to do with Clementine, especially embarrassing or painful buried memories. Being shot in a totally abstract way, it took me a few rewinds to understand the memory erasing scenes. And the cinematography is outstanding. A Brilliantly show film by all sorts. Check out the scene outside the market, when she leaves him. Check out how his memory is erased. It leaves you spell bound. Eternal Sunshine ponders the meaning and impact of memory, and grounds it in a romantic fable. The soundtrack that plays as the background score is compelling, ‘Everybody’s got to learn sometime’. A beautiful track.
Now to the performances, Jim Carrey belts out an outstanding performance as Joel Barish, and Kate Winslet as Clementine is equally competent. You simply love both of them. If two people are meant to be together, the film seems to say, no amount of memory cleansing is going to keep them apart. It made me think of my old relationships, and things I wish to erase many things Ive always wanted to erase. After watching it, I eventually decided not to do so, life isnt that bad, after all.
To sum it up, I’d like to recite from Alexander Pope’s poem “Eloisa to Abelard”
How happy is the blameless vestal’s lot! , The world forgetting, by the world forgot /, Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind! , Each prayer accepted, and each wish resigned
The movie is a must watch for all those who swear by path breaking cinema, for all those who want to watch a spellbinding serious comedy, and for all those who want to watch Jim Carrey deliver his best performance till date, Seriously. And oh don’t forget to go and buy a dvd/download this movie as soon as you can, because I can erase this movie from my brain, and watch it again and again, for its timeless pleasure and stylistic primitivism
Tags: Charlie Kaufman, Christopher Nolan, David Lynch, Federico Fellini, Michael Gondry, satyajit ray, World Cinema
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Fabulous movie, one of my Carrey favorites. Weird, Quirky, crazy even by Hollywood standards, but thats Charlie Kauffman for u.
Exactly Ratnakar..Kaufman is simply brilliant!
BTW there was a big showdown between Kauffman and Clooney over Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, where Kauffman was furious that Clooney just changed the original script of it.
I agree,
this article is extremely well written and appeals to readers of our age. I have watched the movie myself and my opinion is in complete correlation with yours.
well done jehan
Really..Im pretty much clueless..but im trying to do as much research about this guy. Ratnakar..Tell me some other movies, which would fall in such a category. Like Ive got soo many movies..I dont know which one to start off with. Recommendations Please?
Thanks Ainesh
Jehan, if ur referring to Kauffman, Eternal Sunshine has been the only movie directed by him.
He was a script writer before, and he wrote for Confessions of A Dangerous Mind, Being John Malkovich, Adaptation.
While he was satisfied with Spike Jonze( BJM and Adaptation), he had a public fallout with Clooney over Confessions.
U can check out all 3 movies.
Hmm..Thanks Ratnakar..I will..I also wanna catch up on stuff by David Lynch.Heard hes good.
Oh most of Lynch’s work is very abstract. But u can check out. BTW if u love this abstract pyscho stuff, check out David Fincher’s The Game starring Michael Douglas and Sean Penn.
BTW thanks for putting this up, i was getting a severe case of Rabiitis, from all those RNBDJ posts.
Anytime Ratnakar..Happy to see som1 who hates RBNDJ! :D
Haha..But I did want a change. I feel RBNDJ is a majorly overrated film, it wasnt bad, but come on! I wonder if we had a hindi film like Eternal Sunshine..what would it like be?..I also want some abstract stuff in Bollywood.As Im a drama student..I really like abstract stuff.
The only movie directed by Kauffman is Synecdoche,New York (2008)..
Oops my Bad, yeah Eternal Confessions was directed by Michael Gondry, who also directed the other Kauffman script Human Nature, thanks for correction Saurav.
I agree with Sourav. I think Ratnakar called Eternal directed by Kaufman. No hes done the screenplay, yeah Synecdoche is the only one directed. True True
Thats right Ratnakar…Jehan..for Lynch you can watch the popular Mulholland Drive..
Hmm..and Blue Velvet?..Hows that Sourav?
Thats good too…but I rate Mulholland personally higher..You can check Erazerhead…too much.hehe
LOL..Yeaah Im trying to catch up on as many movies..school holidays na =p =p haha
amazing film….. assuringly romantic and truely an experience. Everyone in it is brilliant and direction is phenomenal…
@Ratnakar
I love abstract movies.Just pick up any Lynch movie: Blue Velvet, The Elephant man is superb not that abstract though, Of course Mullholand Dr and Lost Highway. Twelve monkeys, Vanilla Sky, a bit of “Requiem for a dream” surrealism, No Smoking, Luis Bunuel’s Discreet Charm of the bourgeoisie, Tarkovsky’s Offret, Polanski’s The tenant(and the trilogy), Bergman’s wild strawberries, Memento, Butterfly effect etc are some of my fav surreal/abstract movies. You’ll like them too.
My sentiments exactly with the RBNBDJ overdose. I am tired and how. Now they’re calling it the year’s biggest hit and all that. Thats why I hate SRK for his bloated ego and immodest ways of proving he is the star.
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@Jehan,
Finally someone wrote about this wonderful movie. I couldnt stop thinking about it for days. It just stays in your mind unlike the movie’s premise if you know what I mean
Someone recommend more movies of this genre.I am looking forward to see more of these kinds.
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On a different note, I too like watching movies on my laptop. There is no other way I can enjoy the above kind of movies other than my laptop and earphones. I thought I was the only one who thinks that way.
finally some1 wrote abt this movie. its an awesome movie and i always wonder why jim carey’s best performances always go unnoticed. ppl only remember him for wacky stuff like ‘liar liar’, ‘mask’ etc.
. we still have to grow up, we have a long way to go.
the concept of this movie was mindblowing. it will take a long time for bollywood to even copy this movie, forget making something close to this. it tooks us 8 yrs to copy ‘memento’
I love this movie..more than the story writer Kuaffman,i love the screenplay writr Kauffman…hno idea how the hell can he mix various things in a simple movie and make it astonishing..if you notice carefully, Most of Kauffman movies border on being “dorky”..the eternal dorm guy who used to get beaten or ragged in school..the revenge of the nerd types..take for example the dorky charcaters in Being John Malkovich or in Adaptation…even in Eternal Sunshine..Jim’s charcter was a bit dorky, but then Kate has that rebelling attitude..
Read Charlie Kaufmann’s interview on PFC. Seach for his name and the interview post must show up. Incidentally, he said in the interview that people love ESOTSM because it gave them chance to say that they understood a complicated, intelligent film. :P
I’ve seen Eternal Sunshine and Synecdoche, both of them only once. I did not understand any of them (I’m no artist and I usually don’t get abstract concepts so I’m slow in those regards). But they are interesting enough that you WANT to understand them. I’ve been delaying my second viewing of Eternal Sunshine for a while now. I guess it’s time.
its my all time fav romantic film starring one my fav actres kate winslet!! Kauffman is teling a story dealing with issues of heart but cant stop fucking the mind….wowow…he is god!! talking of kate…anyone seen the reader n revolutinary road ?
The Game is not a David LYNCH film,its DAVID FINCHER’s(fight club)..Eternal Sunshine is directed by Michel Gondry…RNBDJ is an overwhelming film..SRK is not Jim Carrey coz he cant be Jim Carrey & Jim Carrey cant be SRK..Michel Gondry/Kauffman cant b Adi Chopra & Adi Chopra cant b Michel Gondry/Kauffman..plz respect the diversity & plz respect the uniqueness of Hindi Cinema..i understand when v r exposed to world cinema & see smth that really touches us inspite of it being ‘foreign’,its overwhelming..take care..God Bless
just weird…started reading this article…and the tv was on behind…and when I finished reading the article….on the Colbert show it was Charlie Kauffman interview….for Synechdoche….serendipity…
Thank You Guys..Yeaah I was eager to do something refreshing like this movie..and ‘no rocket science’, nobody here has called The Game a David Lynch movie,please check again.
@ Neeraj, I only watch movies on the laptop! :D
As a school going student, I dont get much time for other ways.
@ Crazy rals, yeah dude I agree.
And RBNDJ and whatever man, cinema is cinema. Be it Hindi or World. We need hindi to wake up soon and make good stuff. As long as a movie is good and worth watching, I dont mind it being Hindi or anything man, even Tamil haha.Stop defending.Let them wake up on their own! :D
i like eternal sunshine of a spotless mind a fair bit just saw it recently
but the first 30 mins were a bit tedious for me…i paused ten times to go to the toilet and i do that only while watching greys anatomy :/
i really liked the way he shifted between his memories and what was going on currently
also michel gondry does something very intresting when jim carry hides in a childhood memory of his…
the one where he hides under the table
he makes everything in the background look bigger
i guess im not making much sense here but ah
@Jehan
ya sorry fr misreading that..i guess i jumped the gun there..but i stand by my other comments
“Be it Hindi or World. We need hindi to wake up soon and make good stuff”..i think we are “waking up” cinema is a very subjective thing not just in terms of content but in terms of approach as well(fr the maker & the viewer)..most of Hollywood churns out trash like Bollywood(dnt like using the term)…yes we need to get better in many ways & Hollywood need to get better in some ways..its just that i believe our reason fr ‘waking up’ shudnt b driven by we-hv-to-catch-up with the world…our films today our far better in content & production value than it were 10 yrs back..so acc to me we hv woken up & evolving on our own..we dnt hv to reach neway..enjoy the journey man
I am not sure if 12 Monkeys can be called as an abstract movie, it was more of a dystopian time travel sci fi movie.
Also check out Terry Gilliam’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Not exactly abstract, but more experimental and very trippy. Depp and Del Toro are great in this movie.
I give in No Rocket :D..I agree there now.
..Ive also told my movie guy to send me No smoking
And thanks Ratnakar..Im making note of all these movies to catch up
Thank God! This is the kind of post I was looking for. Thank you very much! But here too some people can’t help brining in references to RNBDJ and Shahrukh. Funnny! Anyway, I liked the post and want to watch this movie.
Thank You Manjushaa!..Im glad you liked it!Haha Guess some people cant have enough of Shahrukh and stuff..=p
@ #30 Vivek- Sorry I forgot to write about what u said,youre absoloutely right when hes under a table,everything seems bigger, and thats why i think its a brilliantly shot film.Top Notch cinematography man.!
Do any of you remember the scene, in the market he walks and finds his car, he walks back he finds his car, and gets the same thing on both sides. I thought that was amaziing!!..Any1 recalls?
@jehan
I totally remember the car seen i guess its probably my msot favourite seen
Niice you remember it Vivek!..That was a frikkin well shot scene..I loved that..I wonder how they do that..My favourite scene too. :D
Definitely one of Jim Carrey’s best movies. And like “Liar, Liar” and “Bruce Almighty”, it brings audience laughter and instills good values into mind.