Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Part one)

“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

Do you enjoy concepts of brainwash, and wiping memories from people? Well, do you also enjoy tragic stories of star-crossed lovers? If so, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a movie for you. With sci-fi themes, and a haunting story of two doomed lovers, this film covers a codependent relationship.

The directors of this movie have it set up where it is out of order, however, to avoid confusion in this blog I will be going in order. 

Joel meets Clemintine at a party on the beach. The first conversation they have just so happens to be about the name “Clemintine.” Clem sings him “Oh My Darlin’.” They immediately hit it off and hangout. They inevitably get together, and in this relationship, they are very dependent of each other.  They take things serious on the first night, and they are determined to make it work. Though this sounds like a good thing, it is not. They would push back their problems and find temporary fixes. 

After two years of running off of this unhealthy relationship, they break up. Now this is no ordinary break up. This is one of those breakups that you can run away from. So, after a while of thinking and processing what just happened, Clemintine decided the best thing to do would be to completely erase Joel from her memory. A company named Lacuna did the procedure for her, and it worked.

Joel goes to Clementine’s job post-breakup to ask for her back and sees her with another guy. He gets upset and runs to his friends. Soon after Joel comes complaining, it is revealed to him about her wiping her memory of him. This sends him into a flurry of emotions. Not truly thinking, he consults with the doctor that did Clementine’s procedure. This is where he decides that it is the right thing to do to get her erased as well. 

 

In order for this operation to work, you are not allowed to be around anything that could remind you of the other person. He got a bag full of Clementine’s belongings, and things he got her, and took them to the clinic for them to dispose of. Before they dispose of the items, they place Joel in a machine and get him to react to them in order to make a map of his brain. He then went home, took the pills the doctor gave him, and went to sleep. The doctors walk into his home after they are sure he is asleep. The doctors who are in charge of his procedure are HIGHLY unprofessional, even stealing his drinks and inviting people over to his home. 

The first memory Joel is taken back to is the last time they talked to each other. Clemintine had just wrecked his car, prompting them to break up after a huge argument. We see the world slowly deteriorate as we move onto the next memory.  The next memory is of them arguing about if they were ready for kids. 

While Joel is replaying all of these memories, and slowly losing Clemintine, she can physically feel the connection dropping she just doesn’t know it. She begins to feel like her skin is coming off, and like she needs to be on the move. Funnily enough, the one spot she wants to go is Montauk. One of the major mini plots is that Clemintine loves to go to the ice, and that’s where Clemintine and Joels first date was. That was the date that determined the whole course of the movie, so the fact that she wants to go there while Joel is slowly forgetting her and their memories on the ice is just so peak. 

After a few bad memories, he gets to more of the good ones. He remembers this one where they are laying in the bed, Clem is snuggled up with him and randomly asks, “Am I ugly?” to which Joel says no. This leads to one of my favorite scenes in all of cinema. 

CLEMENTINE: When I was a kid, I thought I was. Can’t believe I’m crying already. Sometimes I think people don’t understand how lonely it is to be a kid. Like you don’t matter. So, I’m eight, and I have these toys, these dolls. My favorite is this ugly girl doll who I call Clementine. And I keep yelling at her, “You can’t be ugly. Be pretty.” It’s weird. Like if I can transform her, I would magically change, too.

JOEL: [kisses Clementine] You’re pretty.

CLEMENTINE: Joel, don’t ever leave me.

JOEL: You’re pretty.

JOEL: Mierzwiak, please let me keep this memory. Just this one.

CLEMENTINE: I don’t want to hold your hand. Come on.

JOEL: Stop it! I could die right now, Clem. I’m just so happy. I’ve never felt that before. I’m just exactly where I want to be… Clem? I want to call it off. I’ll give you a sign. I want to call it off. Can you hear me? I don’t want this anymore! I want to call it off!

Imaginary Clemintine and Joel are now on a full-blown mission to stop the erasing from happening, so they try to hide in Joels oldest memories where Clemintine has no business being. He takes her to a memory of his childhood, where Clemintine takes the place of Mrs. Hamlyn. After they are found here, he continues transferring to different childhood memories. No matter if it was a happy memory, or a horrifying one, they kept running and hiding.

Inevitably, the last memory they could go was their first time meeting. Clemintine begins to talk to Joel, and they spin off into conversation, except this time he says what he wished he said before. They begin plotting on what to do but just decide it’s time to just “enjoy it.”  They break into a beach house just like the first time the hung out. She is so absolutely wreck less, and he is paranoid and worried. 

The house begins to deteriorate, and they both know it’s over. Joel begins to reflect on his past decisions and how he regrets them. He talks about how he wished he stayed that night when they met. She asked him if he could change how it ends, and to at least give her a finial goodbye. The lost words they shared with each other were as follows: Joel- “I love you.” Clem- “Meet me in Montauk.” 

The ride home begins to play through his mind, mixed with little memories of Clementine. After they finish his procedure, they leave his house and act as if nothing happened. He wakes up to find his car wrecked, empty spaces all over his apartment, and a feeling of something missing.

Okay, so unfortunately, I need to wrap up this blog, however there will be a part two. And yes, there is SO much more! I never really write blogs this long or anything, so please tell me how y’all feel about this! Love yall, bye!