CATRIONA PAUL at the movies.

NOT EVERYTHING IN LIFE needs to be snappy. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a title that proves the point. The more you say it, the less cumbersome it seems until it repeats in your head like a soothing mantra.
 
Writer Charlie Kaufman created a whole heap of expectation with the hugely inventive Being John Malkovich. A certain sense of awe is owed anyone who writes well enough to attract big bucks with ideas so oddball they’d usually struggle to attract a short film budget. Like its precursor, Eternal Sunshine is nothing if not wacky.
 
Joel (Jim Carrey) and Clementine (Kate Winslet) are in a long-term relationship starting to show its flaws. After a nasty row, Clementine decides to erase Joel from her memory. Once Joel discovers what she’s done, he too opts for the treatment only to realise, once the procedure is underway, how much he loves her. Thus as memories are zapped like space invaders by techies Stan (Mark Ruffalo) and Patrick (Elijah Wood of Frodo fame), Joel attempts to override the process by hiding Clementine in unexpected parts of his mind – like his childhood.
 
Whilst this may sound too odd to be engaging, this film is all about emotion. Kaufman explores the highs and lows of love with aplomb, tugging at heartstrings and questioning attraction. Suprising then that Eternal Sunshine isn’t all that sexy. The most exciting thing Clementine and Joel do in bed is eat noodles. Instead, Kaufman’s script reveals an attraction that is more about headspace than bodyparts. (Nevertheless, he probably anticipated a little more unscripted chemistry than Winslet and Carrey managed.)
 
This small criticism aside, Kaufman has written a truly original film which has enough heart to match its cool.  So go be both soothed and stirred and repeat after me…
 
ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND
General release, selected cinemas.

Director: Michel Gondry
Writer: Charlie Kaufman
Stars: Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Eilijah Wood, Thomas Jay Ryan, Mark Ruffalo, Kirsten Dunst, Tom Wilkinson, Jane Adams
Certificate: 15
Running Time: 108 mins
Country: USA
Year: 2004
 
 
© Catriona Paul, 2004