Asif 1

Waqas Asif Film Review Zack 3 October 2011 Let Me Wipe That Off Credits: Being preoccupied with the mundane activities of life and forgetting to reflect on aspects such as meaning, and purpose leaves one in a zombie state. If reduced to a zombie state, is it possible to live blissfully by erasing all of ones memories? In Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) the main characters: Joel Parish (Jim Carey) and Clementine (Kate Winslet) undergo this radical procedure in a last ditch effort to rid their zombie lives. On face Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind comes off as a romance, but director Michael Gondry and screenwriter Charles Kaufman brilliantly insert elements of medical science fiction into the plot. The memory erasing procedure dubbed by Dr. Mierzwiak (Tom Wilkinson) is similar to an episode of heavy drinking leading up to a blackout. Supplementary actors who aide in the memory erasing project include: Stan (Mark Ruffalo), Patrick (Elijah Wood), and Mary an office secretary who is another patient in the memory erasing project. (Rotten Tomatoes****) Plot/Vocabulary: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind starts off with the introduction of Joel Parish, a physically rugged, and middle aged man. Joel is not rugged because its No Shave November, but more so because of his recent breakup with girlfriend Clementine, which he has no

Asif 2

recollection of. Gondry brilliantly directs the movie in a manner where the opening scene is actually the ending, as if this is not confusing enough the viewer is then teleported into the beginning of Joel and Clementines relationship. It is soon revealed that Clementine and Joel are two completely different people. It is not alarming for one to classify their relationship as bizarre, or incompatible. However, Joel and Clementine juxtapose these differences in a manner which allows them to complete what the other lacks. Joel is best described as a pragmatic and rationale being, always concerned with the consequences of his actions. Clementine on the other hand is eccentric and spontaneous, as evident by her constantly changing hair color, qualities Joel is afraid to show. Joel soon learns that Clementine had undergone a procedure to erase all memories of Joel in an attempt to forget Joel. Frustrated and betrayed Joel undergoes the same procedure only to regret his decision midway through the procedure. Joel comes to the realization that he is not ready to erase his happy memories with Clementine. What happens next is a series of surreal flashbacks in which Joel tries to savor the few memories he has with Clementine before the machine erases them. Like a typical romance the lovers eventually reunite, and fall for each other in the same manner that attracted them in the first place. In Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind its important to note the color schemes used to convey the message in the film. A traditional movie express a characters emotion through acting, editing and sound, but in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Gondry expressionistically uses color to have the viewer experience the feelings of the central character. In his movie Gondry is trying to get the viewer to experience a sense of loneliness, abandonment, betrayal, sorrow, and grief. In order to effectively display these emotions he uses cold colors, such as a muted blue, which is prevalent throughout most of the movie. A majority of the movie is shot in a setting where colors are neither bold nor vibrantly jumping out of the screen. This particular mood is

Asif 3

instantly set in the opening frame when Joel awakens to a gloomy, dark day both outside and inside his apartment. The sun is hidden amongst the clouds, and lighting remains relatively dim. Dark lighting functions as a mood-off setter since people associate bright colors with liveliness and joy (202-210). One would be gravely mistaken if the possibility of Gondry using surrealism as a cinematic technique is not addressed. The whole movie is played out as a dream sequence having an unreal quality. The viewer is constantly tossed in and out of Joels subconscious as he undergoes the memory erasing procedure. Surrealistic elements in the movie include: figures with no faces, malfunctioning clocks, objects rapidly disintegrating, and the concept of time traveling through ones mind. Analysis: After viewing Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind it is easily concluded that Joel and Clementine believed their lives to be miserable in absence of each other. Clementine and Joel both looked for a way to abandon their misery by undergoing the memory erasing procedure. The theme of existentialism is quite prevalent in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. The movie tip toes around the idea of existence, and what it means to exist even in pain, anguish, and frustration. More specifically Joel and Clementine go against Camus theory of the absurd man by embracing Socratic reasoning in an attempt to escape the apparent world they live in. In order to fully understand the complexity of such a subject one must be familiar with the birth and transformation of Socratic reasoning which created two distinct worlds: the apparent, and the real.

Asif 4