Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Michael

¶ … Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Michael Gondry's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind takes its title from a poem by Alexander Pope -- the Papist living in 18th century England. The reference gives the film a dignity which it seemingly only marginally strives to uphold -- but underneath the film is a reflection of the bigger things at stake in life, love, and relationships: the who and the why. This paper will show how Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a film that attempts to answer the question of why fall in love, out of love, and ultimately fail to understand how any of it happens.

The film stars Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet as Joel and Clementine, two adults adrift in the modern world, where meaninglessness has rendered such holidays as Valentine's Day empty and void. When Joel meets Clementine, serendipitously it seems, on a beach in the middle of winter, it appears that all is about to change for the better. The two have some awkward encounters, but ultimately a friendship is forged and the strong hint of romance is unfolded: at the end of the day Clem tells Joel to call her and wish her a Happy Valentine's Day. He smiles: they have fallen in love.

But, of course, this has all happened before: in fact, Joel and Clementine have had a relationship before -- and both have had their memories erased so as not to have to think about the other anymore. Yet, once those memories are gone (but apparently not gone completely) they are still drawn to the same things that drew them in the beginning: their characters have not changed at all, and they have learned nothing from their experiences: his same judgments still abide and her same impulsive nature still wreaks havoc on the relationship. He fears intimacy, she fears boredom. Both are consumed by thoughts of themselves -- but it was not so at first, was it?

Here, Eternal Sunshine, Charlie Kaufman (the writer of the script) and Michael Gondry (the director) come to represent the underlying problem that is at the heart of all modern relationships: they are not built to last because the foundation upon which they are established is as ephemeral as the memories in the mind. Here today, gone tomorrow. What Kaufman attempts to do is locate the sincerity and innocence associated with an older age (which would be Pope's poem) that yet still exists in the new modern world (again, that would be Pope -- an old world Catholic living in the modern era, Pope is the perfect representation of a foundation upon which a structure may be erected: after all, the doctrine of the old world lasted for a millennium -- the doctrine of the new world is continuously in revolution). Joel and Clementine are two lost souls whose minds have been (literally) shaped by scientific Enlightenment doctrine: there is no transcendental foundation upon which to establish a relationship -- only ephemeral attraction: then human nature sets in and brings the whole thing down.

Of course the two lovers never really receive any greater doctrine -- but they do come to a kind of acceptance of their plight: they achieve a kind of resignation -- perhaps a kind of ancient stoicism. Here, Kaufman and Gondry may be saying, is the hope for the modern world: it has lost its sense of direction, transcendence, and reason -- but there must be some way for lovers to commit to one another.