RELEASED: 2004, Cert. 15

RUNNING TIME: Approx. 108 mins

DIRECTOR: Michel Gondry

PRODUCERS: Anthony Bregman & Steve Golin

SCREENPLAY: Charlie Kaufman

MUSIC: Jon Brion

MAIN CAST:-

Jim Carrey as Joel
Kate Winslet as Clementine
Elijah Wood as Patrick
Kirsten Dunst as Mary
Tom Wilkinson as Dr. Mierzwiak

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FILM ONLY REVIEW

When quiet, shy Joel meets quirky blue-haired Clementine by chance, they fall in love, but it isn't long before the impulsive and a bit off the wall Clementine gets bored. The pair split up, and Clementine makes use of an organisation which specialises in erasing things and events from people's memories. For some reason that I was unable to understand, Joel decides to do the same.

Once the erasing process is underway, Joel discovers that he still has strong feelings for Clementine, so attempts to shift her to a part of his mind that the process can't reach.

That very basically sets the scene for this bitty, slightly crazy film.

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The first thing which attracted me to this film was the title, as I found it to be intriguing, and not having heard anything about it before, had no idea what the storyline would be.

I quite liked the very beginning of the film where Joel and Clementine first fall in love, as the way it happened appealed to my sense of romanticism. However, from the point where Joel goes through his erasure treatment, I began to lose the plot. I mostly was able to understand what was happening, although did experience a bit of confusion here and there, whereby at first I wasn't sure if certain incidents were flashbacks or part of the treatment. Another thing which baffled me slightly was the interaction between Patrick, Mary and Dr. Mierzwiak to the point where I wasn't sure who was in love with and/or bonking and who was or wasn't involved with who.

As far as the musical score is concerned, I was aware of it on some level and it was seeping into my brain, but I believe it was hooking onto a part of my subconscious, because I was unable to draw it forth as a separate entity. I therefore can only say that yes, there was music and I had a sense of it being quite loud, but am unable to throw any light on what it was like.

The best part of Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind by far for me was the acting. The whole cast was very good, but Jim Carrey as the somewhat colourless, repressed character of Joel and Kate Winslet as the whacky, impulsive Clementine, hit the nail on the head for me. I was very surprised at Kate Winslet's performance, because she is somebody who I normally have very little time for, but for me this is the best role I've to date seen her in. I've not seen Jim Carrey in much, but in Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, he brilliantly plays a character that's somewhat different from his personal norm, and he was great.

The style of Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind doesn't really lend itself to very much development of or depth to the characters, as the focus rests mostly on the erasure treatment and what it can do, rather than the building of solid personalities. There is also an element of comedy present, and even though this may cast me into the 'miserable old bag' pit, I usually find situations of this nature in that setting leave me a bit cold, as I like to - for the duration of any film I watch - feel a strong connection with the main characters and see them as complex and interesting people. This didn't happen for me with Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind.

One rather frustrating aspect was some of the camera work being shaky and unsteady, which made it hard to focus on some of what was happening, due to it making my eyes go all peculiar.

I did quite enjoy some of the special effects, and as the film drew to a close, I loved the build-up to the ending, seeing it almost as a kind of twist, but once the absolute ending happened, I realised I'd misinterpreted part of what had been going on. I believe that had more to do with my possibly faulty levels of comprehension rather than a flaw in the film.

I very much doubt if I shall watch Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind again, as although the idea within the storyline is quite an interesting one and the film largely is very well put together, it isn't really my cup of tea as I prefer something with more depth - or, as far as any element of humour is concerned, something with a lot more grit and bite.

Overall and in summary, this isn't a bad film, but not one which especially appealed to me. I'd imagine it to be very popular with those who are drawn to storylines which contain an element of the 'unreal', and a thread of gentle, yet somewhat weak humour.

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At the time of writing, Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind can be purchased from Amazon as follows:-

New: from £2.02 to £14.29
Used: from 1p to £10.00

A delivery charge of £1.26 should be added to the above figures.

Thanks for reading!

~~ Also published on Ciao under my CelticSoulSister user name ~~