Reconsidering Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

I have not previously blogged the 2004 movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, but decided to do so today after I encountered lengthly reviews of it at both The Guardian and The New York Times.

For the past 18 years I've been keeping a log of movies seen with my personal ratings of them.  In 2007 I rated Eternal Sunshine 2+, indicating a general dissatisfaction.  In retrospect I suppose I was confused at that time as to whether this was perhaps a time-travel alternate reality story, and I found the humor surrounding the lab technicians distracting.  But in 2021 on a rewatch after some reading about it, I rated it 4+ (top rating, equivalent to "worth a rewatch"), understanding that this was all "real time" and that the subplots with the techs was relevant to the storyline.

So this year I did the rewatch, and it's still a 4+ movie for me.  Here are some blurbs from today's reviews:

The screenwriter Charlie Kaufman — who was fresh off the critical double-hitters “Being John Malkovich” and “Adaptation” — wrote Clementine and Joel’s love affair as a claustrophobic, unspooling maze that earned the movie an Oscar for best screenplay. Kirsten Dunst and Mark Ruffalo were knocking on stardom’s door when they gave delightful supporting performances as haphazard assistants of the memory-erasing company Lacuna Inc.

Along the way, Joel realizes he’d rather have all of Clementine, heartbreak included, than none of her. He desperately tries to salvage the memories as they’re deleted, trapping himself in a maze of his own psyche. The film spins out of control, traversing realities and timelines, until we are left with a teary-eyed Clementine and Joel, who acknowledge the futility of their relationship. “I’ll get bored with you and feel trapped because that’s what happens with me,” asserts Clementine. “OK,” Joel says with a smirk and then agrees to try again, despite knowing the inevitable disaster of their attraction.

“I can’t see anything that I don’t like about you,” Joel says pleadingly to Clementine to get her to stay. “But you will,” she roars knowingly.

One of the reasons why Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, now 20 years old, ranks among the best love stories of the 21st century is that it makes the unique argument that failure is an essential, precious part of romantic experience. It’s only human to want that pain to go away, but the film suggests that literally making it so would be a wish on a monkey’s paw, offering some short-term relief, perhaps, but with unanticipated long-term consequences.

Eternal Sunshine begins at the end, creating a structural loop that Kaufman pointedly opts not to close completely. On his way to work on a cold February morning, Joel Barish, played by dramatically toned down Jim Carrey, impulsively decides to take a commuter train to Montauk and winds up hitting it off with a vivacious stranger, Clementine (Kate Winslet), he meets on the platform. What neither of them realize is that not only have they met before, but they had a long-term relationship that ended in a painful breakup. They just don’t remember anything about it, at least nothing beyond a few tremors of deja vu.