08.16.05
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
How happy is the blameless Vestal's lot!
The world forgetting, by the world forgot
Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind!
Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd.
–Alexander Pope
Lacuna: An empty space or a missing part; a gap: "self-centered in opinion, with curious lacunae of astounding ignorance" (Frank Norris).
When I originally heard of this movie, I thought it looked really really strange, and didn't really want to see it. But it's been getting really good reviews, and the time was right tonight, so I ended up watching it.
It's a complicated film. Time is fluid. The beginning is the end, and the middle. And the middle is the real beginning. Every memory actually happened, but sometimes only in one's memory, if that's possible. In a sense, all life is fluid, except a few essentials. Joel and Clementine both try to get their memories of each other erased, but keep coming back to each other. It's a seeming "love conquers all" type of story line, yes, but I also think it shows that life is only as good or bad as what we make of it. Even as Joel is in the middle of having his memories of Clementine erased as he sleeps, he manages to pull himself out of the memories that will be erased, so that he creates new ones with Clementine. (All this leads to some pretty crazy scenes: Joel and Clem in bed on the beach, Joel as a 4 year old with Clementine as an older neighbor, etc.) With a concentrated effort, he can pull out of whatever is being done to him. Pretty powerful really.
All in all, a worthwhile film to watch.