This page was created on March 24, 2004
This page was last updated on June 25, 2005

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Dial up modems will take a few moments

Directed by Michel Gondry
Story by Charlie Kaufman, Michel Gondry & Pierre Bismuth
Screenplay by Charlie Kaufman

Producers
Anthony Bregman ... producer
David L. Bushell ... executive producer
Steve Golin ... producer

Cast - in credits order
Jim Carrey ... Joel Barish
Kate Winslet ... Clementine Kruczynski
Gerry Robert Byrne ... Train Conductor
Elijah Wood ... Patrick
Thomas Jay Ryan ... Frank
Mark Ruffalo ... Stan
Jane Adams ... Carrie
David Cross ... Rob
Kirsten Dunst ... Mary
Tom Wilkinson ... Dr. Howard Mierzwiak
Ryan Whitney ... Young Joel
Debbon Ayer ... Joel's Mother
Amir Ali Said ... Young Bully
Lola Daehler ... Young Clementine
Deirdre O'Connell ... Hollis

Original Music by Jon Brion
Cinematographers by Ellen Kuras
Edited by Valdís Óskarsdóttir

MPAA RATING: R, for language, some drug and sexual content
For rating reasons, go to FILMRATINGS.COM, and MPAA.ORG.
Parents, please refer to PARENTALGUIDE.ORG

I was very impressed with the use of symbols in this film. For example, the film was about deleting certain memories, hence the use of elephants (in our culture, they never forget). They represent the fact that we can never really forget the past –totally. Even on an erased hard drive there are residual artifacts.

Below I list some of the symbols and meanings in the film.

Snow on the beach. In an incredible mixing of symbols, certain closing scenes show Joel and Clementine awaking from sleep (resurrection) in the middle of a winter snow (death) next to the ocean (birth, rebirth). The idea here is that in the midst of death comes new life. There is rebirth. But, it never comes through avoiding the past. The past must be dealt with first, and then we can move onto new life. This is true repentance.

In the book of Revelation it mentions that every deed is recorded in "the books" and that on the Day of Judgment each person would give an account of all their deeds done in this life.

In the film these books are confidential tape recordings that are discovered and played back after the memories were erased. Ultimately the characters have to deal with their own agendas and past relationships with others. This is what true mind altering repentance is all about.

A fresh start, renewal, always begins with dealing with the past. After that, healing and rebirth can take place.

Two 2004 films address how our memories shape the way we perceive our world and our relationships as well as how we live our lives as a result of those memories. Although both star actors known for their comic genius -- Jim Carrey and Robin Williams -- each film puts its protagonist at the heart of a serious drama about loss and grief.

“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” was released Sept. 28 on DVD after premiering in theatres in March 2004 to critical acclaim. Jim Carrey portrays a man who discovers that his girlfriend (Kate Winslet) has gone through a new surgical procedure to have all memory of him and their relationship erased. “The Final Cut,” which opened Oct. 15 in limited national release, casts an unusually somber Robin Williams as a man whose life has been shaped, even controlled, by a memory he can’t forget.

As “Eternal Sunshine” opens, Joel Barrish (Carrey) awakes on Valentine’s Day to encounter unexplained incidents for which he has no memory. As he spontaneously skips work to walk along the beach, Barrish, seemingly by chance, meets Clementine Kruczynski (Winslet). Her tangerine-colored hair represents the only brightness on a gloomy winter day and in Barrish’s dull life. Over time, we learn that Joel and Clementine had a previous relationship. But they don’t know it. The impulsive young woman turned to a company that promised “a new life” by means of its ability to erase memories associated with a painful past. Barrish accidentally learns about Clementine’s procedure. Then he, too, decides he cannot live with the raw memories of a broken relationship and pursues the same course. Yet, while the procedure is taking place, Barrish discovers he still loves Clementine, repents and fights in his inner mind to prevent her from being lost and gone forever.

While Lacuna, the corporation playing God with people’s memories, is inept and ethically bankrupt in “Eternal Sunshine,” the corporate power in “The Final Cut” is more diabolical. It offers humanity the possibility of a Zoe implant, which records every human memory and observation from birth to death.

Alan Hakman (Robin Williams) is a cutter, a technician who edits this digitized data into a “rememory,” a cinematic story of a person’s life for use at a memorial service. The aptly-named Hakman is highly regarded for his work on “difficult” projects, when he simply deletes extramarital affairs, instances of child abuse and other transgressions that might mar an otherwise touching “rememory” for the surviving loved ones. “You take people’s lives and make lies out of them,” a friend tells him. Indeed, the Zoe implants face protest from people who have scarred themselves rather than have every moment of their lives recorded for posterity.

“I forgive people long after they could be forgiven for things,” says Hakman, describing himself as “a sin eater.” Yet, in reality, Hakman is possessed by his own memory of a childhood incident in which he believes he caused another’s death. He tries to have a relationship with a bookseller (Mira Sorvino), but she tells him, “There’s no place for me with you. You haven’t even made room for yourself.”

Each film makes wonderful use of visual symbols, but “Eternal Sunshine” clearly stands out as the better of the two. Although “Eternal Sunshine” is rated R, the rating results more from its handling of mature themes and occasional profanity than from nudity or violence. The film relies on an innovative screenplay by Charlie Kaufman (“Adaptation,” “Being John Malkovich”), which leads the viewer non-chronologically through the relationship between Carrey’s and Winslet’s characters. Beginning with the low points in the couple’s relationship, we move toward the start of the relationship and learn that memories involve both the good and the bad. “Erasing” the bad also destroys what was good in life. By contrast, while “The Final Cut” begins with an interesting premise, it degenerates into a clichéd Hollywood thriller.

Memory’s power results from the way it shapes our present thought and future action, something that is illustrated by the many biblical commands to remember. We ponder with awe that God can recall our every word, thought and deed, but promises to blot out all memory of our sins, Our memories cannot destroy us. Or, as Catholic writer J.R.R. Tolkien once wrote, “Behold! We are not bound for ever to the circles of the world, and beyond them is more than memory.”

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SPOILERS AHEAD
It is hard to discuss this film without touching on some of the twists within the plot. If you want to avoid these spoilers, skip down a bit.

We begin to have some hope, as the story moves on, that Joel and Clementine will find each other and fall in love again. And in fact, they do. But such a twist is far too simple for a Kaufman screenplay. He complicates it further by having them discover that they have known each other, that they were in love, and that they quit loving each other, hearing on tape all the things they disliked.

Perhaps the most hopeful part of the film is that after this discovery, they don't call everything off, as they tried to do with memory erasure, but rather, they seek to try to move on with their relationship, knowing what could be ahead.
END SPOILERS

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