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Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Widescreen Edition) Customer Reviews (37 - 39 of 42 Reviews)

Haunts the memory
I honestly don't know where to begin when describing this movie. Is it a comedy? Is it a drama? A love story? A strange trip? Quite simply yes it is. And at the same time it's one of the most original movies of the past five years that aren't obscure fare that 10 people see and declare it life changing.

The story is an everyman/everywoman story of love, loss, redemption, and memory. We've all had relationships we say we want to forget forever when they're finished, forget all the bad times that led to the loss of the relationship. This movie perfectly captures that you may want to forget all the bad things but then you'd lose everything else you found along the way.

Usually when I see a movie, even a good one, I walk out of the theatre and within half an hour I remember the basics of it, the funny lines, the epic battle scenes. But when I walked away from this movie it stayed with me for days. I would hear a song and equate it to the movie (btw "I Am Trying To Break Your Heart" by Wilco is dead on to the movie), watch something on television and find something from the movie. The last line of the memory erase gave me chills. I've rambled enough. If you like great movies buy this the day it comes out, I know I will, it comes out the day before my birthday so a birthday present for me.

A triumph of imagination!
The basic premise is that Jim Carrey's character, already despondent over losing his great love, Kate Winslet, becomes even more despairing when he learns that she has erased him from her memories using a procedure developed by the Lacuna Corporation. It's a sorta sci-fi premise, true, but the technical trappings of the movie are almost non-existent.

In many ways, this is a love story, or at least a story that explores the nature of love. As Carrey submits to the process of erasure, he "experiences" his memories of the relationship in a sort of reverse order, and begins to regret his decision. We see the memories...many of them painful and unlovely, and we experience them on the usual level of watching a romantic comedy. But we also see Carrey experiencing their erasure, and we feel for him and Winslet on a different level. The movie (as you might expect from the writer of BEING JOHN MALKOVICH and ADAPTATION) bounces around in time a bit, but frankly, it doesn't seem that hard to grasp what's going on. His memories are in reverse...that's not hard...and they are a little weird, because memories are a little like dreams...so we accept their oddity. But the memories feel very specific and real too, and that's why we get sucked in by the characters.

In a sorta subplot, we meet the four main people who run Lacuna. Tom Wilkinson, a really terrific older actor (IN THE BEDROOM, is the chairman of the company. His office feels like the office of a low-brow bookkeeper or shady dentist, not a scientist on the cutting edge. We get the idea that perhaps this procedure isn't quite as refined as one might like yet. Mark Ruffalo and Elijah Wood are his "techies," a nerdy bunch with lots of social problems of their own. And Kirsten Dunst is the administrative assistant with a secret. The night that Carrey's memories are being erased takes up most of the time in the movie, and we jump back and forth from his internal experiences and the goings-on of the Lacuna bunch.

The movie is terrifically acted. I've read many people say "Jim Carrey has never been better." This is true, in a way. He really disappears into this essentially non-humorous role. At one point, he is playing himself as a young child, but other than that, he plays it "straight" and we mostly forget it's that wild and crazy Ace Ventura guy. It's a real treat to see Winslet, as always. She's such a daring and generous actor, with a spot-on American accent. Her character is quirky and difficult to like, but she infuses is with loads of pathos, humanity and energy. She and Carrey really play off each other...Carrey usually just plows right over his co-stars...this time, Winslet pushes right back, and they are a nice couple.

The supporting cast are all fine. I like Mark Ruffalo, particularly. Elijah Wood is supremely unlikable, which is a good stretch for him. Dunst is a tad underwritten, and thus, when her big secret is revealed, one's reaction is to shrug ones shoulders a bit. What she does when her secret is revealed is a bit of a stretch, too. She becomes a bit of a device at the end...I didn't totally buy that she would do what she does with Wilkinson's records. So, for that reason, I dock the movie about a quareter of a star.

The other quarter to a half star goes for the Carrey / Winslet relationship. We see how they meet, which is well explored, and feels real and awkward, like a new relationship does. We see how they crumbled, and that feels real and ugly, just like a long-time relationship coming to a bitter end. But somehow, I missed the cozy, comfortable, settled-in portion of their relationship. We can't go from the heat of the first date to the ice of the end without seeing the comfortable middle...yet the movie skimps on those details.

So, the film gets 4.25 stars. But it is nonetheless HIGHLY recommended for anyone who has experienced adult, painful romance or for anyone who can appreciate a film that never takes the easy way and seldom gets predictable.

Masterpiece
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind begins with the theory that memory is a tangible thing. The brain is the equivalent of a large filing cabinet, and the removal of painful memories is as simple as isolating the files associated with the person or event and taking them out. Described as a form of brain damage, the procedure is quick and efficient, as troubled patients are promised a future free of those troubling episodes that haunt us all.

But that only establishes the world of the film. The plot involves the question of what happens when two former lovers both choose to erase each other from their memories and then meet again without any knowledge of their previous relationship. The film goes on to explore questions about true love and how much a person's identity depends on his/her memory.

The two lovers in the film as played by Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet, and neither have been better. Carrey is reserved and introverted, a reminder of other Charlie Kaufman-created leads in Being John Malkovich and Adaptation. He is witty, educated, but painfully inept in social settings. As opposites attract, his love interest is all the things he is not. She is spontaneous and lively, but lacks much mystery and depth.

The film begins in the middle, before they meet again "for the first time". We see their previous relationship in flashbacks, most of the film taking place in Carrey's mind as he goes through his memory erasing procedure. While in the middle of the process, conflict arises in his mind. A heartbreaking realization ensues, as he must give up the tender moments of their affair (along with the painful ones). The horror of the procedure is exposed; it is the equivalent of the death of a loved one.

While watching them build their relationship a second time, many viewers will be torn. Some will say it is the power of true love, thrusting them back together as if they are destined for each other. Others will believe they are making the same mistake again and will not want them to suffer through another courtship that ended as badly as the first.

At the heart of the film is a relationship between two people presented with all the cruel truths of reality. While we do see the wonderful moments shared by two people in love, we also see how painful love can be when those involve really know what how to hurt their partner. The film offers ambiguous answers to the matters of the heart, but succeeds in presenting a story and world that should stimulate imaginations and spark debate.

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