Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind

Spotless Mind Inspection

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) was written by Charlie Kaufman, who worked on the story with the film's director Michel Gondry, and with Pierre Bismuth, a French performance artist. The idea started with Bismuth, who, according to Kaufman, mailed a note to Gondry and several other friends explaining that he'd had them erased from his memory, in order to see what their reactions would be.

The plot of the film is somewhat difficult to follow for the passive viewer as it does not progress in a traditional linear order. Rather the main plot moves in a reverse chronology in the memories of the main character, while occasionally leaving to a shorter timeline in which present events are progressing linearly. The story involves two lovers - Joel Barish (Jim Carey) and Clementine Kruczynski (Kate Winslet) who after a nasty breakup decide to have each other erased from their memories. They go to the offices of Dr. Howard Mierzwiak, head of the Lacuna, Inc. which specializes specifically in erasing memories. Initially Joel meets Clementine at a beach party he attends in Montauk with his friends Rob and Carrie. He is immediately attracted to her, but is too shy and leaves her without pursuing the attraction. Later, however, he goes to her work at Barnes and Noble and asks her out. She accepts and they become a couple. After two years however, their relationship begins to decline. One day while together at a flea market they get into an argument about children. Clementine wishes to have a child, but Joel wonders if she is actually capable of raising another human being. This conflict goes relatively unresolved and Clementine goes out on her own later that evening. She returns at around three in the morning, very drunk, and reveals to Joel that she "kinda, sorta, wrecked [his] car." He is very angry, but Clem argues that Joel is not so much angry about the car, as he is worried that she slept with another man. Joel responds that he simply assumes that she slept with someone else. After all, "isn't that how you get people to like you?" Deeply hurt, Clementine leaves and shortly afterward has her memories of Joel erased by the Lacuna, Inc. Two days later when Joel goes to Barnes and Noble to try to patch things up with Clem, he is shocked by her response. She acts as if she has no idea who he is and is seen kissing another man. When Joel speaks to his friend Rob about his confusion over the whole series of events, he is handed a postcard. It explains that Clementine has had Joel erased from her memory and to not tell Joel about it or mention their relationship to her. In a sort of retaliation, Joel decides he will have the procedure done as well. He sets an appointment with Dr. Mierzwiak to have the procedure done, and after some preliminary brain mapping, two of the technicians, Patrick and Stan, go to Joel's apartment to erase his memories of Clementine. However, due to a brief power malfunction at the beginning of the procedure, Joel is able to consciously view and interact with his own memories as they are being erased. The Lacuna inc. office receptionist Mary, comes to help and see her boyfriend Stan. Also, as it turns out, Patrick has fallen for Clementine and is now using mementos and information from Joel's relationship with her to win her heart as Joel once did. Joel's memories are being erased from the most recent to the oldest. At first he is glad to have the memories erased, as the most recent are negative and involve their falling out. However, as he moves further back to his happy memories of Clementine, he realizes that he does not wish to lose them and attempts to halt the procedure from within his own mind. Meanwhile Clementine is troubled by something she cannot put her finger on (her lost memories over the last two years) and calls Patrick to come be with her. Stan allows Patrick to leave realizing he can be alone with Mary, but as Joel continues to fight harder to prevent losing all memory of Clementine, the system malfunctions and Joel disappears from the preliminary brain map. Unsure how to remedy this problem, they call Howard at his home to come and try to get Joel back on the map. Howard arrives and fixes the problem, but stays to see the procedure finished. Stan leaves to get some equipment from the van, while inside Mary reveals her love for Howard and they kiss. At this same time, Dr. Mierzwiak's wife arrives to see her fears realized. She confronts the two and reveals to Mary that this has happened once before. In fact, they had a previous affair, and Mary had agreed to have her memories of it erased. Howard, however, did not have the procedure. Very upset, Mary walks off into the night. Stan and Howard then awkwardly return to the job of erasing Joel's memories. Despite his best attempts, Joel is unable to retain his memory of Clementine, and all he is left with is an odd desire to go to Montauk, the place where they first met. He skips work the next day, goes to Montauk and runs into Clementine. They are strangely drawn to one another, despite their personality differences, and begin their courtship once again. Also, during this time, Mary decides to steal all the files of the patients of Lacuna, and mail them out to everyone who had the procedure done. She decides the procedure is immoral, and hopes to cleanse her guilt and embarrassment by telling everyone the truth. One morning as Joel is bringing Clementine home from their date, she asks if she can sleep at his place. He agrees and she runs inside to get her toothbrush and her mail. While Joel waits in the car outside, he has a brief encounter with Patrick who is surprised to see Joel at Clem's apartment when he shouldn't be. Patrick leaves, defeated and angry. Clementine returns, with a cassette tape from the Lacuna, Inc. and plays it in the car, curious as to what it is. The tape entails Clementine's rather nasty description of Joel and her reasoning for having him erased from her memory. Both are confused, and Joel feels he is the butt of some cruel joke and kicks Clementine out of the car. She later goes to Joel's apartment in an attempt to work things out and she finds him there listening to his own tape. He offers to turn it off, but she insists it is only fair that they listen to his as well. But after hearing the comment that drove her away the first time, once again she leaves hurt and confused. Joel follows after her and begs her to wait. They decide then to try the relationship again, without worrying where it will go, and the movie ends.

Throughout the film Joel experiences several major recognitions and reversals. Chronologically, his first recognition is his declining relationship with Clementine. In one scene, they are eating together at a Chinese restaurant, they seemingly dine at frequently. Their conversation