"Where's the self-help section?"

"It's going to be gone soon."

"I know."

"What do we do?"

"Enjoy it."

The film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is far deeper than a simple plot summary would suggest. It is more than just a romantic comedy about an absurdly impulsive woman and a more shy, reserved man. It is an adventure into the psyche of two people who love each other. It is an exposure of their deepest passions and hatreds. It is a vision of personalities clashing, resulting in brawling emotions and sometimes harmony.


This film can even be viewed as a social commentary of sorts. In it's examination of the good and the bad of relationships, Eternal Sunshine brings to light much of what generally gets brushed under the rug in romantic movies. The relationship between Joel and Clementine is nowhere near perfect. She is impulsive to the point of recklessness and he is timid to the point of apathy. This film dares to delve into these sort of nuances. The film goes on to pass judgement, in a way, on relationships and humankind. Confused? I'll try to explain.


As the relationship between Clem and Joel deteriorates, Clem chooses the track of the chronic impulsive and has her memory erased of all evidence that Joel ever existed for her. Joel, hurt and infuriated beyond words by her actions, has the same procedure done. Both Clementine and Joel use the memory erasure as a form of revenge (here is where the judgement comes in). Instead of working out their problems like mature adults (and maybe severing ties, if that's what needed to happen), they avenge their scorned dignities by stooping to the lowest of lows and taking the easy way out. By erasing their memories, Joel and Clem didn't have to deal with their problems at hand. Clearly, neither character had learned in their life thus far the old cliche: "it is better to have love and lost than never loved at all." Although it is absolutely a cliche, it's a relatively poignant one. In the story, Joel decides to go through the same erasure procedure as Clementine did. He seems confident in his decision until the procedure actually starts to occur and he is being chased through his own memories. Looking back on his various memories of Clementine, he sees how much he loves her, how much she has impacted him. He begs the omniscient presence to let him keep just one memory, just one. Unfortunately, that is not an option. However, somehow (magically, divine intervention, fate, it doesn't really matter) Joel and Clem are able to hold onto one thought of each other. In doing so, they meet again and begin to fall into the spiral of love, having no conscious knowledge of the other person.


Now, hopefully (I realize that hopefully isn't actually a word in this context...I don't care) it is easier to understand my "social commentary" mindset. The one thing that could carry this even further is the alternate ending we fleetingly discussed in class. It wasn't included in the final cut of the film (which was probably a good call on Gondry's part), but it continued the story of Joel and Clementine. They fall in love again, only to fight again, only to have their memories erased again, only to meet again, only to fall in love again.....the cycle is endless. This proves the point of the futility of relationships, the absence of some people's ability to handle situations, to cope with what comes their way. Overall, I venerate this film. To some people, it is simply a romantic comedy. But to me, it is more than that. It is the tragic story of two people who cannot appreciate the love that they have for one another until it is being forcibly ripped from them. But maybe I'm just looking too far into this.


P.S. Undoubtedly, my favorite part of the film was when Joel was wearing his awesome sweater - the one that was covered in galaxies. I seriously want that sweater.