Nicole Harlan

ENGL 263.W1
Professor Sanders
8 April 2016
Journal Response F
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind follows two main characters, Joel Barish and
Clementine Kruczynski, through the start of the relationship until the breakup that caused them
both much pain. Clementine hired a doctor, Dr. Howard Mierzwiak, to erase memories of Joel
because the breakup was too much for her to handle. Joel finds a slip of paper that states he was
erased from Clementines memory and seeks out the doctor that performed the erasing of
memories. Joel now wants the procedure done after meeting Clementine after her procedure was
done. The rest of the movie plays out the different memories that Joel had of Clementine. Dr.
Mierzwiak, along with help from his co-workers Mary Svevo and Stan, were the ones erasing the
memories. Joel realizes half way that he does not Clementine to be erased from his memory and
fights it. However, it is in vain since he wakes up with no recollection of his lover Clementine.
Everyones story in the movie are intertwined with Patrick being Clementines boyfriend after her
memory is wiped. Patrick usually helps Stan erase peoples memories. Mary, used to be
intimately involved with Dr. Mierzwiak before having her memory erased. She confessed her
love to him the night of Joel having his memory erased and found out she was a client of his as
well.
Eternal Sunshine of the spotless mind was very intriguing and confusing. The storyline
did not make sense until the end and even then, I was still confused over what was going on. The
emotions that I felt for this movie were all over the place. Confusion was the strongest emotion

that I felt because of the plot line and I believe the story was told out of order. Some other
emotions I experienced were awe and sadness. I was in awe of the entire story line. I was more in
awe with how someone could have come up with this storyline and the actors portrayed their
characters beautifully. The sadness came in part with the painful breakup between Joel and
Clementine, and then later between Mary and Dr. Mierzwiak. Even during their relationship, Joel
and Clementine could have solved majority of their problems by communicating better and avoid
misunderstandings. Marys story was particularly sad since her memory has already been wiped
once before because of her painful breakup as well. It goes to show that even though they tried to
help people by erasing their memories, it did little in the long run since the two couples
gravitated back to each other because of their love for each other.
They were many magical moments throughout the film. The magical moments did not
start until Joel was put under and his memories were starting to erase. A few were that while
trying to hide away Clementine, the objects around them were disappearing. It was a race against
time for Joel and Clementine in these moments. During one of the moments of trying to hide
away Clementine, they were transported to a time when Joel was four. Joel became an adult baby
and had childish antics. Clementine was trying to help him remember when they were swimming
in the sink and Clementine disappeared. Little moments like this happened throughout the rest of
the film. I do not think it connects with any of the readings we have had this semester, except it
reminds me the most of The Aleph by Jorge Luis Borges. It seems like both of these stories had
multiple sides to the stories and were both intricate. Both of these stories remind me of
something playing on a loop, and it is hard to distinguish what is actually going on.