Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind – Movie Review

Joel Barish (Jim Carrey) is a simple man who appears to be down on his luck when we are introduced to him at the opening of the film.  He is on his way to work when he decides on a whim to get on a different train and head to the beach, in the middle of winter. 

When he arrives at the beach he is contemplating life when he spots another woman who appears to be doing the same.  Being the shy individual that he is he tries to sneak a glance at her without being noticed.  The two are completely alone on the beach as it of course is not a nice day to be enjoying the ocean.

Finally the two introduce themselves and Joel meets Clementine (Kate Winslet) who is a quirky free spirit.  After they chat for a bit they realize that they are taking the same train home.  As they continue to converse on the train they get the funny feeling that they have met somewhere before but neither can place where.

Fast forward the story a bit the two fall in love and share many exciting and memorable occasions with each other.  As with some relationships theirs begins to fall apart until one day Clementine leaves.  The next time the two of them meet at Barnes & Nobel Joel tries to apologize to Clementine only to find out she has no recollection of him. 

Joel finds out from one of his friends that Clementine had a medical procedure done to remove any and all memories of Joel from her brain.  Upset and hurt, Joel decides to visit the same doctor and convinces himself that he needs to have the same procedure done to him so he can finally forget Clementine.

The rest of the movie shows Joel going through this procedure and reliving his memories as they are erased from his brain.  Each memory of Clementine ultimately ends with all of the physical elements of the scene vanishing.  As Joel is midway through the procedure he begins to realize how many great memories the two of them shared and that he doesn’t want to forget about them.

The brilliant part of this movie is when Joel tries to take Clementine into the parts of his memory that she wasn’t a part of so that memory won’t get erased.  It gets a bit convoluted but watching the events unfold helps tell the story much better.

 The ending of this story is a must see because it turns the entire movie upside down.  This is a must see if you are a fan of Jim Carrey movies because he pulls of the dramatic roll perfectly.   If you watch this movie make sure you pay attention from beginning to end.