Eternal Sunshine
September 07, 2006
My bride and I found time to watch a movie together this past Saturday, something we are infrequently able to do with two little ladies in the house. Our choice – Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind – was a bit risky but it paid off. Eternal Sunshine is a bizarre romantic comedy starring Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet. Neither of us had ever even heard of this movie, despite the fact that it received an Academy Award in 2004 (Best Original Screenplay). It is moments like this that remind me how out-of-step I am with popular culture.
Through the turbulent romance of Joel (Carrey) and Clementine (Winslet), Eternal Sunshine explores a familiar problem: when it comes to love, some people seem to make the same foolish mistakes again and again. While the problem isn’t novel, its presentation certainly is. By portraying the history of Joel and Clementine’s relationship through the lens of a wacky medical procedure, the director is able to intertwine and blur fact and fiction, shift temporal perspectives frequently, and create a wild ride for the viewer.
Early in the film, Joel learns that Clementine purposely has subjected herself to some form of medical quackery for the purpose of erasing all memories of Joel from her mind. (As described by her physician, Dr. Mierzwiak (Tom Wilkinson), “technically speaking, the procedure is brain damage.”) Joel, either out of spite or to avoid the intense pain of a love lost, soon opts to undergo the memory-erasing procedure, as well.
The audience is permitted to follow Joel on this strange journey, traveling in and out of his mind, as his memories of the relationship unfold in reverse chronological order. As the erasing procedure continues, memories from the beginning of Joel’s relationship with Clementine surface, and the unexpected happens. Joel encounters beautiful memories – memories filled with the love, hope and joy that typified the dawn of their romance. Faced squarely with this beauty, Joel has a radical change of heart. He desperately wants to keep his memories, even if it means suffering the pain of alienation from the woman he loves.
But Joel can’t stop the procedure! He’s been anesthetized, and no one is inside his brain to hear the cries of his heart. Pushed to the edge, Joel gets creative. He tries to conceal memories of Clementine in different parts of his brain, within different memories. Note that Clementine, or at least an imaginary Clementine inside of Joel’s brain, is a willing conspirator in this effort. But in the end, there is no escape from the expert memory hunter Dr. Mierzwiak.At the end of the film, with all memories of each other erased, Joel and Clementine meet again. As when they first met, they are love-struck. Poised to embark on what seems to them to be a new love adventure, they are exposed to the shock, pain and bitterness of their past breakup, thanks to Mary (Kirsten Dunst), a disgruntled employee and rejected flame of Dr. Mierzwiak. Mary sends each of the clinic’s former patients an explanation of the procedure they elected to receive (because they have no memory of it) and a copy of their interview tape with Mierzwiak, during which they describe each and every memory to be erased (including graphically unpleasant ones).
Imagine: You’ve just met someone really groovy. You think and hope this could be the start of something special. And then you learn the hard, ugly truth that you’ve dated this person before and it ended in bitter heartbreak. In your own words, you hear yourself describing the other person’s flaws. What do you do? Here’s how Clementine and Joel handled the revelation:Clementine: I’m not a concept, Joel. I’m just a [messed]-up girl who’s looking for my own peace of mind. I’m not perfect.
Joel: I can’t see anything that I don’t like about you.
Clementine: But you will.
Joel: Right now I can’t.
Clementine: But you will. You know, you will think of things, and I’ll get bored with you and feel trapped because that’s what happens with me.
J: Okay.
C: Okay (crying).
J: Okay.
C: Okay (both laughing).
As the screen faded to black, my immediate impression was strong. C’mon! There goes Hollywood again, selling the American public a garbage philosophy of life:
Sure, when it comes to love, people seem to make the same foolish mistakes time and again. But that’s okay. First, there’s nothing they can do about it. In Clementine’s words, “I’ll get bored with you and feel trapped because that’s what happens with me.” Second, even though the relationship is doomed from the start, at least they’ll have some fun before then. Joel’s simple, sheepish, grinning “Okay” captures this sentiment well.
Why the fatalistic resignation that Joel and Clementine are destined to repeat their mistakes? Why no hint that humans are capable of change? That Joel and Clementine might choose a different course and preserve their bonds of affection?
As I said, these were my immediate thoughts. A couple of days later, I returned to the film’s closing scene to test whether those thoughts were fair. I’m not convinced that they were. As Joel and Clementine reunite and the credits roll, music rises for the song “Everybody’s Got To Learn Sometime.” The words, by James Warren, go like this:Change your heart,
Look around you,
Change your heart,
It will astound you.
I need your lovin’
Like the sunshine.
And everybody’s gotta learn sometime,
Everybody’s gotta learn sometime,
Everybody’s gotta learn sometime.
“Change your heart.” For the filmmakers, perhaps “Change your heart” refers only to Joel and Clementine’s admirable decision not to give up on love, even if it is hopeless. Or perhaps they included the song only because it mentions “sunshine.” I don’t know. I would like to think that “Change your heart” reflects the Biblical understanding that we are able to change. We are not slaves to Fate. If we turn from the darkness and to the Light, He will change our hearts. He will give us eternal sunshine that is neither contrived nor imagined.
