Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - Review
This review of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is spoiler-free!
What do you think of when you think of when you hear the words, "best films of the century?" For many people, the obvious candidates come up as There Will Be Blood, Mulholland Drive, and Boyhood. In my opinion, there are some films in the critically acclaimed world that often manage to be a bit more under the radar than most. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, in my opinion, is a film that many people really don't know about. For me specifically, going into this movie I had the classic case of what I have decided to coin as Dwyerism: having no clue about what the true idea of the movie is before going into it. Well, after starting this film I got a good smacking to the head when I ended up understanding what the movie was really about.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is all about two people: Clementine and Joel. As the main characters of the film, we follow their lives from the moment they meet through to their breakup. In the wake of the breakup, Clementine decides to take drastic measures in order to forget about Joel, resulting in a strange series of events that lead Joel to follow the same path. In doing so, Joel realizes that he doesn't want to forget her, but rather felt upset by circumstance. Seeing the story of their relationship retold in front of us, we learn what exactly happened to them and why they made the choices they did. For me, Eternal Sunshine is an extremely difficult story to really explain without any form of spoilers. For me, this film really took time to digest and think through in order to appreciate it on the level it deserved. Excellent storytelling through and through, with a unique means to do so.
Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet anchor this story in a big way. Joel is the beating heart of the film, feeling the majority of the pain and suffering through the early going. We're seeing the story mainly through his eyes, and Jim Carrey does an absolutely magnificent job conveying the pain of loss that Joel is feeling on screen. This may be my favorite role that Carrey has ever had, simply put, because he manages to flip the script on what people expect from him in a film. He's a heartbroken man who just wants to be ok again and I loved every aspect of his performance. Along with him, Kate Winslet's Clem is absolutely fantastic. She manages to portray that same feeling of loss and loneliness that Carrey does, but in a different way. Their on-screen chemistry is absolutely heartbreaking, in a great way. Their relationship is tackled in all different areas and manages to show the true pain of losing someone and how to recover.
This movie though conveys the mixed emotions of their relationship in an excellent way. Using a mixture of visual and vocal effects, we are taken inside the mind of Joel and his journey to forget about Clementine. As Joel is being forced to forget special memories he has with his lost love, we are treated to moments where we see the memory being depleted in front of us, and along with that, Joel's confidence in doing so. This is a film that could surely have worked to some degree without such magnificent visual work. It goes without saying that, that this movie is about 1000 times better because of just how well the visuals mix with the story and really enhance the overall pain we feel from these two. Once again, it's difficult to explain just how well this film manages to encapsulate all of its great elements without absolutely opening the story up to you all.
As an overall movie, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind manages to do something that very few films ever do: cause reflection and create a true genuine emotional response from its audience. As people, we are led by our emotions and one of the most powerful emotions is love. Heartbreak is a powerful source of reasoning for people in moments of strife and seeing that story unfold in front of my eyes truly brought me to tears. Clementine and Joel's journey from fruitful lovers to broken-souled strangers is gutwrenching and absolutely disheartening. This is what makes this movie such a critical darling, as we all can find a piece of the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind in our lives at some point or another, and can connect with it in a way we can't with other films. I would be absolutely crazy to not say that this is a masterstroke of filmmaking that takes time to truly understand, and for anyone who undertakes this film, I hope you take time to think on it as I have.
