Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Achieved Review

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Gondry, 2004



Eternal Sunshine has a special quality to it that most movies try to develop and utilize, but fail – real and relatable characters. It seems everyone I talk to can relate to one of the characters in Eternal. For me it is Joel, for others it is Mary; the point is the film is full of characters you can feel for and understand, and because of that you can also learn from them. I think it is this ability to understand what the characters are going through that makes the movie so powerful. My heart really sunk when Joel was driving during the credits, him not being able to stop crying, and on the opposite end of the spectrum I was really touched when we saw Joel remembering why they fell in love in the first place.

This is one of the few movies that I can actually really get into emotionally without it being all sappy. It’s just really honest and real. I can really relate to Joel and how he feels during certain situations. I am really a lot like him so I sometimes almost can feel what he is feeling – a testament to the brilliant script.

To animate these unique characters, we also get one of my favourite ensembles of the turn of the century. Carry and Winslet are both simply brilliant as Joel and Clem, and everyone else, whom I can not even begin to list, are equal in their respective roles. I just really loved the performances as much as the characters and everyone was cast so fittingly. Great job all around – they really give the film weight. To compliment all this we get French director Michael Gondry, who accomplishes some frankly astonishing effects without using CGI, and gives Eternal a very individual and unique feel to it. Without his directors touch I doubt Eternal would be what it has transformed into.

And of course there was the award winning script by Charlie Kaufman! I’ve already mentioned the script, but I should give it even more note. I mean, the movie wouldn’t be what it is without Kaufman. It is just so original and new, yet it isn’t ill conceived or weird for the sake of weird. Who would think of making a love story set in a guy’s brain where he tries to save memories? Everything about it was insanely original and well conceived. It’s a love story without the sap; a love story with an almost science fiction twist…and at the same time it’s a very touching love story, and the film is accordingly very happy and other times very sad.

I have a feeling this movie is on the road to becoming a classic of sorts. It’s been a couple years since it came out and it still has a huge fan base, and it has the originality and innovation to remain a well remember film which won’t be obscured in a couple months like so many other films. Maybe the film will become a classic because of the characters though; disregarding all the other elements of the movie, if you just take the characters and their dialogue and the performances that embody them all, almost no one will have trouble relating to the film, and sometimes the ability to relate to something is what makes a movie timeless.