The world forgetting, by the world forgot
Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind!
Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd
Alexander Pope, Eloisa to Abelard
From Vertigo to L'Année dernière à Marienbad to Blade Runner to Twelve Monkeys to Memento, memory has always been a subject that fascinated filmmakers. Our perceptions of reality are molded as much by our memories as by facts. It has been said that memory tends smooth out the edges of a rough history. However, getting there often means a painful ordeal. If memory would eventually obscure truth over time anyway, wouldn't it be easier just erase it to begin with?
If there is one movie that perfectly blends the enigma of memory and Valentine's Day it is Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. With its specific time frame setting, it is a movie people who had been in love or through a break-up can relate to on the special day. After all who wouldn’t share the same pain and longing Joel had after the love of your life left abruptly without sufficient reason.
Heavily influenced by, by director Michel Gondry's own admission, a rarely watched Alain Resnais’ movie Je t’aime, je t’aime, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind also shares the subjectivity and mutability of memory theme that permeates throughout Resnais’ films.
Nevertheless, what separates Gondry's movie from Resnais' is the injection of an aura of romance and warmth. Instead of overwhelming us with an intriguing but alienating study of the complex relationships between time and memory, audiences are invited into the Joel’s world and to share his affection for Clementine, the regret of his impulsiveness and his longing for a second chance.
"Remember me" as Clementine told Joel, an advice came just a little too late
Through Joel’s memory we saw the intimate moments Joel and Clementine shared together. We felt sorry for Joel’s impetuous decision to erase Clementine from his memory. We rooted for him to somehow revert the procedure through his sheer will. We cheered for Joel following through the promise he made to Clementine to meet her in Montauk through the new memory he created during the operation, in spite of the inexplicability on Clementine fulfilling her part of the deal to show up for the rendezvous because we believe they are meant for each other
However, I felt that audience who are so quickly sold on the fact that Joel and Clementine should belong together might have romanticized their relationship a little too much to notice that most of these intimate moments only exists in Joel's head. Moments such as Joel takes up Clementine’s suggestion to hide her in his memory of humiliation, or when Joel and Clementine seek refuge in a painful childhood episode where Clementine comes to Joel’s rescue. These moments of heartfelt intimacy never actually appear when they are together. The exception is when Clementine asks Joel if she is ugly.
We can see why Joel yearn for Clementine since he believes she had him pegged (By the way it is from this movie I learned the phrase "pegged". It meant Clementine had Joel figured out). However, it is hard to argue what in Joel that appeals to Clementine. Except in this sequence where it shows Clementine needs Joel as much as he needs her, if only she could remember this when she decided to erase Joel as a lark. Interestingly according to the DVD commentary with Michel Gondry and writer Charlie Kaufman, in the original script Clementine was supposed to quote a passage of The Velveteen Rabbit in this scene instead but somehow it didn't work and so they changed her dialogue. I wonder if they realize how much this change affects the dynamic between Joel and Clementine in the movie.
It could be argued that it was only Joel's yearning for Clementine that is being projected onto Clementine in his imagination. We never really sure if Clementine actually want to stay in his memory. The truth is in their actual relationship Joel and Clementine never really communicate with each other. None more evident than the scene when Clementine complains about Joel not opening up himself to her
He said/She said: Sharing is what intimacy is but constantly talking isn't necessarily communicating
I like the way how Jim Carrey stole a glance at Kate Winslet when he inferred that she constantly babbled while she was looking away but then quickly closed his eyes to feign sleeping while she was looking at him. It underscores the fact that Joel cannot look at Clementine eyes to eyes to express his feeling (good or bad) to her while Clementine cannot accept criticism with an open mind. These moments are indeed the actual events in their relationship. In fact audiences are so smitten with the quirky chemistry between Joel and Clementine in Joel's imagination that they tend to overlook or ignore the third act of movie – the history between Mary and Howard.
Those who think the Mary/Howard subplot is unnecessary probably think their past has no place in the intrigue whether Joel and Clementine will get back together but the truth is Mary/Howard’ story is as much as Joel/Clementine’s. Just like Joel and Clementine, Mary believe erasing unpleasant chapters in one’s life allows them to move forward, ‘to let people begin again’ (Mary compares having memory erased as a pure, clean baby while adult is a mess of sadness and phobias). But what Mary failed to realize is that it is only through sadness and pain that one comes to learn from his mistakes, as she herself fall for Howard once again after she had his memory erased. In the monologue in his imagination as the erasure process comes to a close, Joel confessed that now he wished he’d done a lot of things because he had learned his lessons.
And so Joel goes, but not before taking one last look at the memory of, um, just a girl.
Sadly when he woke up in the morning all the lessons will be gone with the memory with Clementine. If Mary’s story is any indication, history will repeat itself with Joel and Clementine even when they did get back together second time around.
If sunshine was eternal then you would never remember it since you wouldn't notice it in the first place.
1 comment:
, I also want to watch it.
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