The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, 2004
Director: Michel Gondry
Cast: Jim Carey, Kate Winslet,Tom Wilkinson
Stage: Home Theatre
The Sunshine in short:Joel is stunned to discover that his girlfriend Clementine has had her memories of their tumultuous relationship erased. Out of desperation, he contracts the inventor of the process, Dr. Howard Mierzwaik, to have Clementine removed from his own memory. But as Joel's memories progressively disappear, he begins to rediscover their earlier passion. From deep within the recesses of his brain, Joel attempts to escape the procedure. As Dr. Mierzwiak and his crew chase him through the maze of his memories, it's clear that Joel just can't get her out of his head.
Preps: I have seen this movie several times. Find it a classic and a good way to think about what you do in life. The choices you make. A good way to spend a Friday evening.
Reality: Up to what extent are we remembering or better put, trying to keep the memory? According to some theories, in a long run, you don't remember the good stuff, you tend to remember the bad things. Therefore, if you have a bouncy relationship, which ends in fury, you will remember after a while, only the things you fought about. And after years and years, maybe a vague memory will serve as a mere reminder of what have you done wrong. Or how it went down the drain.
Now, this movie implies something completely different. That the good times are stashed somewhere subconsciously. Yes, the memory reminders, such as the things you have done together, the photos, the quotes you both spoke, nick names, dolls you bought together, those reminders will take you back to a good memory. This is why most women (and some men also) just stash those things in a box and bury it, throw it away, clean the appartement from those reminders. How about cleaning your soul, subconscious thoughts, things that chase you in your dreams? The procedure, shown in a movie, is a bit similar to losing weight by going to a place where they suck your fat. It makes you thin in a second, but what a waste to one's mind - you don't get to grow by experience, because you pay that an experience is skipped and afterwards, mostly, unappreciated present state of mind, makes you forget about the path (obviously, because you haven't had one to remember about).
Building a relationship is stated of many moments, that collide in a story. After ending it, they collapse in fragments that appear every now and then in your imagination. Either good or bad, they are here. They chase you while you are being alone at night, wondering, what the hell went wrong and how did I succeed not noticeing it. So, a perfect solution appears in this piece, just erase the bloody memories. It will all restart, and your brains will not be damaged any more with you wondering around, thinking how good it was and how crappy everything is right now.
The only problem the human race might have with this, that in many cases emotions suck the sane part of your mind. For instance, erasing your own memories just because your ex decided to do so (for some sort of a vengeance reason) is purely emotional factor and shouldn't in this case make the doer any happier. She doesn't know him anymore and it will only serve the desperation Joel has when thinking of the daring idea she got into motion with erasing everything they did, who they were, every fragment that involved him. In some sense, the easier way. Like a suicide. The easiest way to solve problems. And definitely coward-full, in terms of it's harder to cope with your trouble and accept responsibility than to just end it up. In this piece, erase it.
Humans tend to change their minds. Just what if you took the wrong pill (Matrix) and you want to exit? In this dream, no way. Still, Joel finds a lucid way in his procedure of erasing and knows he's dreaming. A conscious decision to escape the procedure makes this sf movie tremendously adventurous and romantic at the same time. Does he escape the things that are buried in his soul? In his dreams firstly he realizes they are dreams and memories that are about to go blunt, and then he creates another dream within a dream (the Inception from last year holds the same candle in its red line). In those dreams, supposeably cannot be found. The acknowledgement, that he per se, doesn't want to lose the memories at all, is breathtaking, as we watch him fall deeper and deeper, desperately seeking a place where he can hide with his Clementine.
Brilliant work from Carey and Winslet. Excellent exposure of the director's mind. A movie, worth all the attention it got and worth re-seeing again and again. Sad, romantic story about the essence of ourselves and up to what point we want to torture ourselves or live in a dream. And up to what extent the memories of a beloved person reach.
My personal rate: 9,5 (a brilliant "relationship" piece, worth every second of screening).
The Sunshine on IMDB
