Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

Oh my darling, oh my darling,

Oh my darling, Clementine!

Thou art lost and gone forever

Dreadful sorry, Clementine

After 8 years of completely avoiding this movie, I finally got around to watching it in July 2012. This was 108 minutes of time well spent. For good reasons, I am reminded of this movie today and I decided to get down to writing about it. 

Kate Winslet plays Clementine and Jim Carrey plays Joel. Clementine and Joel are lovers who spend two years together, and then they break up. They are very different from each other, and this contributes to the break up. Clementine then decides to erase all of Joel’s memories, and becomes Joel-free so to speak. Joel decides to do the same to become Clementine-free. The movie is from his perspective and shows how he struggles to hold on to her memories. He tries to hide their important memories within other memories, and realizes that he has much more control over his memories than any machine ever can.

The attendant in the clinic (Elijah Wood) is incidentally dating Clementine when he views Joel’s memories, and proceeds to interact with her in the same manner as Joel had once done – he has her case history and enough evidence to know how Joel behaved and what Clementine liked about Joel. Clementine gets confused repeatedly, and doesn’t know why.

I am not getting into the plot with Kirsten Dunst – it is an interesting twist. Watch the movie to see how it ends. The Yokefellow thinks happy endings are meant for movies, and I am at the opposite end of the spectrum where I believe in happy endings.

Winslet’s acting is a class act and she received an Academy award nomination for her performance. The striking colours of her hair, her dialogue delivery and her body language are fantastic. The movie makes use of Bollywood music, and the song “Everyone's gonna learn sometime” is nice.

Some thoughts as I watched the movie.

If we are expected to hold on to memories of love long gone, we lose the perspective that it perhaps makes sense to obliterate (a strong word) those memories in order to move on. If we spend time in seeking the friendship of old lovers and maintaining those friendships, then we’d never give our new lovers a chance. We'd not give love a chance.

Imagine if someone were to tell you the stuff that you wanted to hear, somewhere deep within, and it is not because he/ she is supremely understanding of you. It is because he/ she has got to ‘know’ you in a roundabout manner, and already knows what matters to you, what your pet peeves are. He/ she doesn’t ever tell you that he/ she ‘knows’ you. Would you feel cheated? Would you feel flattered? Would you question the authenticity of the friendship / relationship / whatever you wish to call it?

The movie also made me think of the beauty of companionship. Some get obsessed with the idea and repeatedly seek company in order to be with someone all the time. There are others who move away from the idea when their companion leaves them.

I leave you with this.

How happy is the blameless vestal's lot!

The world forgetting, by the world forgot.

Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind!

Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd;