Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) – M. Gondry

A “high concept” movie about relationships and memory – and about life, really – but I guess it could be referred to as “sci-fi”.  Charlie Kaufman’s script posits a company that can erase certain people from your memory, such that you wake up and you have completely forgotten about them and the portion of your life that included them.  As directed by Michel Gondry, it is a surreal affair – particularly as most of the film consists of the overnight procedure in which the memories are erased (by a team of technicians: Mark Ruffalo, Toby Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, and boss Tom Wilkinson) and this means we both see the memory and see it coming apart.  The man who is erasing his girlfriend (Kate Winslet), who erased him first, is played by Jim Carrey.  Personally, I’ve never been a fan of his exaggerated broad comedy but thankfully he (mostly) keeps his over-acting to a minimum here.  Still, Winslet feels more real and natural.  That said, the film still manages to hit many emotional high points, reminding us as viewers of our own relationship beginnings and endings – and of the need to get past our petty insecurities and pet peeves in order to acknowledge another person’s humanity and forge a meaningful (ongoing) connection with them.  Yet, the film wouldn’t be nearly so good if it didn’t also raise some of the ethical issues associated with the procedure – making it clear that it is very likely that we humans would just find a new way to muck up the next (or same) relationship after we’ve paid to move on.