Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) | Sci-Fi Saturdays

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You probably wouldn’t remember, I probably couldn’t forget.

One of the weirdest movies in the last two decades is Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. It’s part science-fiction film and part romance that dives deep into the human condition headfirst. Enjoy the trip.

First Impressions

The trailer opens with a commercial for Lucana Incorporated, showcasing a new technique they’ve developed for ridding the mind of unwanted memories. Jim Carrey comes to the doctor’s office to have some memories erased, and asks how safe the procedure is. The remainder of the trailer is a number of shots of the various actors, sometimes in odd situations, like in a bed along the beach shore or bathing in a giant sink (or perhaps being shrunken and bathing in a normal sink). Just what is the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and why are we discussing it on Sci-Fi Saturdays?

Presented below is the trailer for the film.

The Fiction of The Film

Joel Barish (Jim Carrey) finds a dent in his car door and soon thereafter decides to ditch work, taking a train to Montauk, where he awkwardly meets a woman named Clementine (Kate Winslet). They take the train back into the city together where Joel offers her a ride home. The next night Clementine takes Joel to a frozen river for a picnic. Joel takes her back to her apartment the next morning but she asks to come over to his place. While she runs upstairs to get a toothbrush, Joel has a strange interaction with a stranger (Elijah Wood).

Joel is crying in his car as he returns home. Two men in a van watch him and follow him into his apartment. Earlier at Carrie and Rob’s house (Jane Adams & David Cross), Rob accidentally reveals to Joel that Clementine has had Joel erased from her memory by a company called Lacuna. Joel takes the personalized card from Rob and visits the Lacuna office, which appears just like any other doctor’s office. Joel speaks with Dr. Mierzwiak (Tom Wilkinson) and spitefully schedules to have the same procedure done on himself.

Joel collects up everything that reminds himself of Clementine and returns to Lacuna where they have him look at various objects as they track the emotional core of his memories. Joel’s memories of Clementine and his time at Lacuna begin to bleed together in odd ways. Back at Joel’s apartment Stan (Mark Ruffalo) and his assistant Patrick (Elijah Wood), the stranger Joel saw earlier, prep the sleeping Joel for his procedure. Patrick’s non-stop talking about his girlfriend “Tangerine” bleeds into Joel’s lucid sleep where he sees Patrick kissing Clementine.

Joel visits his memories of Clementine backwards from his most recent (her denting the door of his car) to when they first met, at a beach party in Montauk. Partway through the Lacuna procedure he decides he wants to call it off, but he is unable to awaken or get anyone’s attention. Lacuna receptionist Mary (Kirsten Dunst) stops by Joel’s apartment to drink with Stan, while Patrick leaves to be with his girlfriend. Mary and Stan dance around in their underwear and eventually have sex. Stan realizes that Joel’s procedure has stopped and he can no longer find the man inside his memories.

Dr. Mierzwiak is called over to get the procedure back on track. Meanwhile inside his memories, Joel–realizing he wants to keep his memories of Clementine–tries to hide her in memories that she was never a part of, like his childhood or humiliating memories. Stan excuses himself when Mary starts to come on to Mierzwiak, eventually kissing him. They are seen through the window by Mierzwiak’s wife who reveals to Mary that she previously had her memories of an affair with the doctor erased. Joel takes Clementine into the memory of their first meeting at a beach house–which is eroding with the surf–where he realizes he’s still in love with her.

With the procedure completed Joel awakens the next morning with no memory of Clementine or the events of the previous night. He finds a dent in his car door and soon thereafter decides to ditch work, taking a train to Montauk, where he awkwardly meets a woman named Clementine. Mary quits her job at Lacuna, stealing all the audio cassettes from the patients and returning them to their owners so they can know about the procedure and lost memories. Both Joel and Clementine receive their tapes and listen to them. Realizing that they still care for each other they agree to try again, even if things change.

“That’s strange. He’s in a memory that we’ve already erased.” – Stan

History in the Making

The inclusion of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind might seem like an odd entry for this series. It is probably one of the most avant-garde and surrealist films reviewed on Sci-Fi Saturdays to date. It was directed by Michael Gondry, a Frenchman, who got his start in music videos (many for Björk) before directing his first feature-length film, Human Nature, in 2001. That film paired Gondry with writer Charlie Kaufman, fresh off of writing the screenplay for the surreal Being John Malkovich. Kaufman followed these two films with Adaptation (directed by Spike Jonze, another music video director) and Confessions of A Dangerous Mind (the directorial debut of George Clooney). Gondry and Kaufman came together again for this film which is a visual and thematic trip through a person’s memories.

The title of the film comes from the poem (technically a verse epistle) Eloisa to Abelard written by Alexander Pope in 1717. This was settled on after Kaufman had failed to come up with a longer title that “you couldn’t possibly fit on a marquee.” The quote originates from the middle of the poem, and this stanza: “How happy is the blameless vestal’s lot! The world forgetting, by the world forgot: Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind! Each prayer accepted, and each wish resigned.” It is recited in the film by Mary as one of her “Bartlett’s” that she uses in an attempt to impress Dr. Mierzwiak. As the title of a film about the removal of memories, it illustrates the goal of Lacuna. By erasing the “bad” memories of an old lover (or a beloved pet, as one woman in the waiting room is seen with pictures of her dog), they attempt to create a “spotless mind” that is not befouled by the heartache and pain of the relationship. Thus, without that burden, the patient can live in “eternal sunshine,” unaware of their past, and living only for their future

Genre-fication

The biggest question that viewers of this film may have is, is Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind really a science-fiction film? Some may disagree, but at its core it absolutely is. The people of this world, at least the New Yorkers, have access to Lacuna Inc., a wondrous medical facility that is able to target and erase memories related to their emotional core. The word “lacuna” is actually defined as an unfilled space, or gap, thus branding the company spot on. The exact process is never really described, but the doctor does mention it as a form of brain damage, which has Lacuna targeting the parts of the brain related to various memories. As discussed the other week in the write-up for Paycheck, the erasure of memory has a long sci-fi history to it.

Many sci-fi stories rely on elements of memory erasure, false memories, and characters being unsure of who they actually are. Our memory is one of the elements that defines the human condition. We are all made up of our past experiences. These recollections predict how we’ll respond in a future situation, as well as providing the emotional responses to various stimuli. Films like Blade Runner and Total Recall define characters based on false memories that have been implanted in them. Schwarzenegger’s character in Total Recall does not remember that he’s the ruthless assistant to the administrator of Mars, and his false memories define his quest to set things right throughout the film. Likewise, the replicants in Blade Runner have a completely fictitious backstory created for them, confusing some of them into believing they are actually human. Other films, like Dark City, use a repetitive memory wipe to experiment on subjects. Their memories are erased and juxtaposed in order to see how they will respond to different stimuli.

Societal Commentary

While Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind has a main science-fiction core, it’s really a film about relationships. In fact it’s a film about messy relationships. Realistic types of relationships. Not the Hollywood kind often seen in film. Through editing, the film makes it seem like the characters meet and immediately decide to forget each other. But closer examination reveals that they meet before Valentine’s day in at least 2003, having decided to forget each other in early 2004, and then finding each other again before Valentine’s Day 2004. Aside from Joel and Clementine’s relationship, which gets the most screen time, none of the other relationships in the film appear to be healthy. Stan and Mary have an office fling at a client’s house, while Mary is hopelessly obsessed with Doctor Mierzwiak, a married man. Joel’s friend’s Carrie and Rob appear to argue the majority of the time they are on screen together. And Patrick uses knowledge of Clementine and Joel’s first relationship to attempt to seduce Clementine in the most creepy way possible.

The film also delves into a number of emotional states not normally seen in sci-fi films, including regret, and insecurity, along with love and memory. The Lacuna process takes the characters backwards through the interactions with their partner. Joel experiences the most recent, and harshest, times with Clementine at the beginning of the process. But as the procedure continues, he remembers moments that he realizes he doesn’t want to lose, and experiences the regret of acting rashly. The disruptions of the technicians in his apartment put him into a lucid state where he’s able to direct his memory in ways not normally experienced during the process. It’s Joel’s insecurity that prevents him from feeling the attachment to Clementine during his initial moments. But under the Lacuna process, he realizes that things were never as bad as he thought, when he’s finally able to see the two of them from an outside perspective

The Science in The Fiction

Dr. Mierzwiak answers Joel’s questions about the process letting him know that the procedure is basically brain damage, but something that is “on par with a night of heavy drinking.” From what can be understood about the process from the film, people who want to forget an ex, or a loved one, bring in everything they have that would remind them of that person. Having these items around after the procedure could cause a relapse of memories. The technicians perform an interrogation of the client by showing them the objects and tracking the memory that pops up in their brain. This is the emotional core that helps Lacuna target a specific area of the brain. With all that data, the client is provided a sedative that keeps them knocked out while the technicians arrive at the home to perform the erasing procedure during one night. The client awakens the next morning completely unaware of the events that led to the erasure, as well as the procedure itself. The procedure is presented in such a way that it seems completely acceptable, especially given the outrageousness of the rest of the film.

The moral question that arises from this procedure is the fact that the characters don’t remember that they initiated the procedure in the first place. What’s to prevent them from accidentally finding out and suing the company? In fact, it’s unclear if Mary actually consented to the erasure of her memories of the doctor, or if it was his way of covering up an affair when his wife found out. The confidentiality of the entire process is also very sketchy, with cards printed out for friends and family to let them know about the procedure and not to discuss it with the individuals. Between these cards, and the lack of security over the files (which Mary eventually steals and distributes), Lacuna has always been one tragedy away from a lawsuit.

The Final Frontier

Of the couples that Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind shows that have had their memories affected (Joel/Clementine and Mary/Dr. Mierzwiak) the process does not seem to work very well. Both couples are able to re-find themselves again. Joel and Clementine end up meeting again in Montauk, while Mary continues to have a schoolgirl crush on the doctor. It’s as if their subconscious retains elements of the memories and relationships, setting them off to seek out the other person all over again.

Elements of the film are also reminiscent of the 1966 film Seconds, which has similar themes about characters undertaking life altering procedures potentially for their betterment, but ultimately destroying their new future as their old life intrudes. At least Eternal Sunshine has a slightly more hopeful ending.

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