*** Official ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND DiscussionThread (1 Viewer)

[Paul D Young]

Not much to say except that my wife and I loved the film.

And for Quentin; that birdhouse line was the funniest line of the movie! Some folks were looking at me because they couldn't figure out why I couldn't stop laughing at it. A close second for me was when David Cross said:
"The plane crashed. I didn't crash the plane!"
(It sure doesn't look like a funny line though does it?)

 

[TheLongshot]

Well, not nessicarily like, but be able to relate to them. I can certainly relate to Joel, since in some ways I am like him. I certainly know about aimlessly drifting through life. I can certainly understand the attraction to Clem. In a lot of ways, she's everything he's not. Spontaneous, daring, bossy, overbearing, etc. Her behavior can be both endeering and irritating. In the short term, she can be a lot of fun. In the long term, you start thinking as Joel did, wondering what kind of future you could have with Clem. The problems begin to get magnified. There are doubts.

We also needed characters flawed enough to break up so horribly that they'd want to erase the memory of it all. In the end, they are pretty human.

Jason

 

[Kevinkall]

WOW!

What a GREAT film. For some reason I wasn't looking to be impressed. Color me wrong. By far the BEST film of the year(so far).


You summed it up perfectly.

 

[Vickie_M]

Here's a wonderful detail I read about on The Straight Dope:

Chris and I saw it again today, and brought a friend of ours. She loved it, and we loved it even more, and found it more emotional. It's going to get better and better with each viewing, because we'll know the characters better and care about them more.

When Joel is sitting in the waiting room, the man to his right (on the left looking at him) has some kind of a trophy with him (golfing or bowling, perhaps). I can't imagine what kind of memory he wants to erase. The woman sitting on Joel's left has the box full of dog items.

Re the woman I was talking about:
As Joel is led down the hallway, Dr. Mierzwiak opens a door and you see a screen (looked like a screen that you'd play home movies on, but it could have been a TV. It's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment and I partially blinked). The image on the screen was black and white but I (again) didn't see what was playing. My friend said it was a tennis match. ? This was the room where the elderly woman was in the (dentist-like) chair sobbing. Also in the room was a phonograph player playing a record from the 1940's.

 

[Chuck Mayer]

Well, of course Joel is more sympathetic than Clem It's *HIS* memories the bulk of the movie searches. If we had seen the OTHER side (her dropping the memories), perhaps our views of BOTH characters would be changed. I loved BOTH leads, and Kate brought an energy and honesty to Clem that I immediately fell in love with. Long story short, the movie is playing with our minds. Memories are always colored by the person remembering, so Clem might be misrepresented.

Just a note,
Chuck

 

[Stephen_L]

Saw the film a second time and a lot of my questions were cleared up. I believe the scene of Joel crying is just after he has left Lacuna all of Clementine's momentos and is about to go home and take the pill that will begin the erasure.

Seeing it again, I'm more convinced than ever that at the conclusion both lovers know they will end badly again, but are willing to make the plunge anyway. The critical lines in the hallway have Clementine say (I'm paraphrasing slightly) "After a while I feel trapped, I get bored. It's what I do." And Joel replies "Okay" That doesn't seem to me like two people determined to overlook one anothers faults to 'make it work' this time. Just two messed up folks who know their differences will probably torpedo their relationship once again, but love each other enough to go ahead anyway.

Just a minor question. The time scale of the film seems very compressed. Joel visits his friends three days before Valentines Day to do something special for Clementine after their breakup. She doesn't recognize him and he returns I assume the same day to discover the Lacuna connection. By the day before Valentines, he's been brain mapped, left the Clementine momentoes and is ready to get the procedure. (The conversation with his neighbor about planning something for Valentines tomorrow with Clementine is the evening of his mind wipe.) That night Joel is 'wiped', Clementine visits the frozen Charles River with creepy Elijah, and Dr. Merzwiak's secretary discovers her affair with the doctor has been wiped. On valentines day, Joel bolts for Montauk and meets Clementine, they spend the day together and that night visit the frozen Charles again. By the next morning (day after Valentines), the secretary has stolen all the files mailed them and had them arrive at Clementine's house so that when she and Joel return from Boston the next morning, the tape and file is there for her to find. Dang the mail is delivered quick in Charlie Kaufman's world. Not really a complaint, but just trying to get my head around all the events that happen in those two days before and during Valentines day 2004.

As I was leaving the theater the second time, I was disappointed to hear a couple complaining about all the "weird s***" in the movie. I don't think of myself as a film snob, but I was disappointed that someone would dislike a movie this compelling and moving, just because it's structure is challenging and not formulaic.

 

[Alex Spindler]

I was under the impression that the letters were not mailed but were instead dropped in by hand. Perhaps I'm wrong.

Also, I thought the neighbor talked about valentines being a few days away. It happened so fast and I was off center through much of the intro, so I could be mistaken.

Thanks for twisting my arm into justifying another visit again.

 

[Alex Spindler]

Oh man, does this movie impress. Some catches I made:
Joel's neighbor does say it is a couple of days before Valentines. Interestingly, during the memory of it, the neighbor doesn't say the same thing. Of course, it is also a different day. Very interesting.

I'm just about certain Clementine had been trying to get to Montauk since she was erased. She mentions to Patrick both the lake and Montauk as places to go to...right away.

The movie is also very consistent, timeline wise. It looks like Mary hand delivered the tapes to people, Clem finds post-wipe Joel through his address in the phone book.

Joel's credit sequence cry is right after he has delivered his mementos and reacted to them. I just realized that I'll bet everyone who has the procedure done is probably overwhelmed with grief on their way home. And they aren't even able to share their memories during the procedure.


An amazing film.

 

[Tim Raffey]

Immediately after being overwhelmed by the intensity of the crumbling beach-house, and delighted by the tight circularity of her whisper--"Meet me in Montauk"--I wanted to piss myself laughing from the offscreen line "I didn't crash the plane. The plane crashed. I didn't crash the plane." However, I was too overjoyed to express my joy. That's a nice feeling.


The ending:
The picture is a romantic fantasy. The 'what if' being one's belief that a relationship would be blessed if, after the first date, a tape was played of her bitching about everything he does/doesn't do that drives her crazy, and vice versa. A happy ending is hearing it and going on. Beautiful and true.

 

[Michael Ballack]

I caught the movie yesterday. Loved it of course. I had the same situation as a lot of you did. After the movie was over, an older couple was talking about how strange the movie was and the wife made a comment about getting her money back. It surprised me. I always thought younger people were more into the formualic cliche types of films while older people would be more open to a film that stimulates the mind. My opinion, is that they figured it was going to be a typical romantic comedy where boy meets girl, boy loses girl, finally boy gets girl back. Also, as someone elese mentioned, they probabally saw that big time stars Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet were going to be in it, and werre probablly curious.
I guess i shouldn't care what those people think. I was truly touched by this film and that's all that matters.

 

[Stephen_L]

I may be wrong but I was pretty sure that Joel's neighbor asks him what he's doing with Clementine for Valentine's Day and that its the next day. Maybe I'm suffering from mind-wipe too. Guess I better go see this picture again.

Just one happy question: how in the name of heaven does Charles Kaufman get these movies made? How can the same Hollywood executives who green-light the dull, formula-driven stuff that is the bulk of Hollywood films allow this magnificent lunatic to make these wonderful, screwy films. Keep that insane imagination cooking Charles; I'll pony up the bucks for a ticket to watch.

 

[DaveGTP]

Well, it was a Focus Features film. They have a lot of indies, etc.

Not exactly a giant mainstream company, right?

 

[Stephen_L]

Yet, another reason to praise the renewed popularity of independent films!

 

[Derek Miner]

Well, they are part of Universal...

 

[Chris Farmer]

I hold onto the happy ending part, that they are choosing to go through with it with eyes wide open, knowing the problems and willing to deal with them, but that's my interpretation. The movie certainly leaves it open either way.

Oh, and at my showing, I had an opposite reaction. No complaints, but a lot of couples holding on to each other extra hard on the way out.

 

[Holadem]

I was late and only started watching the movie from where he offered to drop her home. I assumed they had met not long ago. Was there anything significant before that?

BTW, why did thid film have to open right when I am faced with the decision of letting a very siginificant person to me back in my life again? I thought I had finally made up my mind after 3 1/2 months agonizing over the decision (which apparently is all mine), until this stupid movie :rolleyes.

--
H - :star::star::star::star:

 

[Alex Spindler]

Yeah, there is some very significant stuff in there, but you get at least some of it in the revisit of select scenes later in the film.

Still, it undermines some of the storytelling structure of the intro being the end. You didn't get to see their first (second) meeting, which is a great sequence.

 

[Holadem]

Thanks, I suspected as much. I was really afraid knowing it's a Charlie Kaufman film, that I would be missing something essential to the story.

Well, I was going to see it again anyway.

I overheard some kids in the bathroom talking the significance of the name Clementine. I think they are onto something... But I wish i could take credit for this find

--
H

 

[MichaelPR]

WOW...Great movie...very intimate! My girlfriend and I really enjoyed this one. I would recomend it to anyone in a relationship

 

[Eman_Ramos]

Pretty much going with the crowd here with this one.

This is a brilliant movie. One that rewards those who see it multiple times.

I was very impressed with Jim Carrey's performance. It wasn't vintage over-the-top Jim. But a toned-down Jim with hints of zaniness. Is it an Oscar-worthy performance? I don't know, really.

But as for the movie itself, I'm still processing it. For me, the main point was that memories, whether wonderful or painful, are necessary, and they keep us going.

Other random notes:

- I didn't really dig Skeevy Frodo.
- The sub-plot with Mary and Howard was...interesting.
- I'm still wondering how Clementine's last line to Joel before his memory was cleared ("Meet me in Montauk") fits in.

I'm still processing the movie in my head, and it's great to see all these different perspectives about it.

Again, this movie is brilliant.