Day 013: Eternal Sunshine of the spotless mind

When a furiously strong love comes to an end how do you cope? Try to forget? What if you could forget the whole relationship? What if you change your mind?
This is another one of those movies that start with a SciFi premise but simply aren’t SciFi, in this case it’s a Romantic Drama. Also yet another Academy Award winning movie (Original Screenplay) with a cast that play out the story magnificently.
When Clementine‘s relationship with Joel ends she decides to have all memory of it removed, a process invented by the Lacuna company. When Joel finds this out he decides that the memories are too painful for him also and elects to have the procedure.
Whilst going through the process however, Joel changes his mind (realising he still loves Clementine) and starts fighting the deletions. As his subconscious moves from memory to memory trying to protect what it knows of Clementine the story of their relationship unfolds. Things get more complicated by real worlds events around him though and Lacuna’s future also hangs in the balance.
Wonderfully written and presented, the only odd note is that any company, like Lacuna, with such a powerful product would be run in such a shoddy fashion. Perhaps it’s explained in there somewhere. Kate Winslet and Jim Carey are ably supported by their co-stars.
Things to look out for: Clementine’s hair, the destruction of each memory, baby Joel under the table, DVD includes and advert for Lacuna
Released: 2004
Certificate: 15
Cast: Kate Winslet, Jim Carey, Tom Wilkinson, Kirsten Dunst, Elijah Wood, Mark Ruffalo
Rating: emotional roller-coaster, at times very funny and sad, wonderful effects, highly recommended
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