Eternal radiance of a mind without memories: summary and analysis of the film

Would you remove someone from your memories if you had the chance? Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) revolves around an ex-partner who decides to undergo a revolutionary treatment to forget the memories of her stormy relationship.

Directed by Michel Gondry and written by Charlie Kaufman, this romantic science fiction drama film has managed to become a cult film of its kind since its release in 2004.

Eternal Sunshine, also translated as Forget about me! in Spain, it is a film that imagines beyond what is possible, since it involves a journey through the world of memory, presented through a non-linear narrative.

Here is a summary and analysis of the film that will make it easier for you to understand.

Attention, from now on there may be spoilers!

Summary of the movie

The film begins when Joel, a cautious and suspicious man, meets Clementine, a cheerful and spontaneous woman. Although they do not suspect it, in reality, they are ex-partners. Both have undergone treatment at a clinic called Lacuna to erase the memories they have of each other from their respective memories.

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Memory suppression

Since then, the film focuses on Joel's memories, during the memory erasure process. The memories range from the end of their relationship, which are the most painful, to the beginning of it, where the moments are happiest. As Joel experiences these happy moments with Clementine, Clementine wishes not to lose those memories.

Instead, as the procedure progresses he is asleep and cannot convey his intention to anyone. So, Joel decides to make an effort to prevent Clementine from disappearing, he does it by trying to hide her in another place in her memory, where she cannot be detected, for example in the memories of her childhood.

Joel undergoes the Lacuna clinic experiment — Joel undergoes the experiment. In this frame he appears with a device that will erase all the memories of their relationship.

A few revealing tapes

Parallel to the story of Joel and Clementine, that of the Lacuna employees is revealed. Mary, the receptionist at the clinic, discovers that she had an affair with Dr. Mierzwiak and that she underwent the procedure to forget him. Annoyed, the woman decides to leave her job and sends some recordings that clients made before undergoing treatment to her owners. In these tapes they explain who they want to eliminate from their memories and the reasons why.

Likewise, Patrick, one of Lacuna's workers, takes advantage of the process to alter memories and win Clementine's affection.

Another chance

Back in the present, Joel and Clementine listen to the recordings that Mary has sent them. In this way, both discover the reasons why they decided to forget about each other.

Despite the bad things they say about each other, they seem determined to give themselves another chance.

Joel and Clementine talk about their differences at the end of the movie.

Analysis

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, a film framed mainly within the genre of romantic drama, does not stop telling a "classic" story of love and heartbreak.

So, what is its peculiarity? What was it that caught your attention at the time of its release and makes it have cult “status” within the genre?

One of the peculiarities of this story is how it is told, that is, the story. Also its background because, in addition to a story of encounters and misunderstandings of a couple, it is a reflection on identity and memory.

The narrative and aesthetic aspects of audiovisual language are very important in this film, since they manage to recreate the world of the protagonist's unconscious. Let's see.

Nonlinear narrative and memory representation

Memory is a complex process that allows us to remember events, situations or experiences from the past.

Eternal Sunshine he immerses himself in this complicated mental capacity, such as memory, making use of a narrative structure that breaks with chronology to explore how and why we remember.

This film has the ability to plunge the audience into an authentic labyrinth that returns them time and again to the same point, through a complex dance that oscillates between memories of love and heartbreak.

Deep down, breaking with the logic of events helps the viewer understand and experience what is happening in Joel's subconscious while he undergoes the experiment.

The place of memory in identity

Is it possible to separate identity and memory? One of the premises from which this film starts could be: "we are because we remember that we were".

The film immerses the viewer in a continuous reflection on what would become of us if we completely erase our personal experiences, would we repeat the same actions? Would we make the same mistakes?

The protagonists seem destined to fall back on a relationship that didn't work out, instead, they remain the same. Somehow, with the suppression of memories, the possibility of learning from their good or bad experiences together is lost.

Love and heartbreak: how to stop forgetting

The film begins with very close to Valentine's Day, the Lacuna clinic has many requests from people who want to undergo the memory erasure procedure and thus eliminate ex-partners. With this, the film immediately poses the following dilemma: would you erase someone from your memory to "start a new life" without the trace of that relationship?

Eternal Sunshine It involves not only a reflection on memory and identity, but also on love relationships and their different stages. Not only the good times, at the beginning, also during the sunset.

Joel decides to undergo the resentment treatment, upon learning that Clementine has erased it from his memory.

The procedure consists of removing from the memory of the patients all the memories they have of that person that they wish to eliminate. To do this, the technicians of the clinic use objects linked to the relationship that manage to activate the brain of the patient and allows clinicians to draw a “brain map” to identify where the desired events reside remove.

From the moment he undergoes the experiment, Joel seems to slip into a lucid dream. He is able to go through his most recent memories to the most remote.

Erasing your ex from your memories of him seems like a good idea. Instead, as the film progresses, the protagonist begins a race to avoid oblivion, to prevent some of the memories of him with Clementine from fading.

From about minute twenty, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind it becomes a dream movie, where the important thing is to transport the viewer to the sensation of volatility of memories. But how do you get this across?

All this is achieved thanks to the visual and sound effects. Elements such as planes, lighting, colors and sound immerse the viewer in this labyrinthine "journey" against oblivion, which occurs within the mind of the protagonist.

Blur, perspective game, and sound distortion

In the memories, Joel is the center of the scene. Sometimes, when a memory is suppressed, its figure is isolated from the background using blur. Thanks to this, everything around him is omitted, as in his mind, everything is totally or partially blurred until it disappears.

Gif in which the blur technique appears in the film — Use of blur and harsh lighting when a memory is about to disappear.

The film also delves into the protagonist's childhood, to the most primary memories of him, when he decides take Clementine to a place in her memory where she never existed and thus avoid being eliminated from her regards.

To recreate this childish world, even forced perspective is used, so that Joel, with the appearance of an adult, looks much smaller than Clementine on screen.

Frame in which the forced perspective appears in Eternal radiance of a mind without memories — Frame of the film in which the forced perspective technique is used.

The use of the hand-held camera technique in some of the scenes also allows us to enter that hectic world of memories. This conveys the feeling of imprecision and confusion to the viewer.

It is also achieved with the use of sound, which is distorted in some scenes in a way that fully places us as spectators in Joel's subconscious.

Lighting and color as narrative guides

Lighting and color also play a critical role in recreating this intended subconscious world. Hard lighting predominates, for example, in moments when memories are about to fade, isolating Joel from his surroundings.

No less important is color, which has a fundamental role in this film. Cold colors predominate in sad scenes, warm colors in happier ones.

There is a determining element that allows the viewer to be oriented, and that gives clues when organizing the puzzle chronologically: Clementine's hair color.

Frames of Eternal Radiance featuring Clementine's different hair colors — Evolution of Clementine's hair color change throughout the film.

In a linear way, the protagonist goes through four different hair colors throughout the tape: green, red, orange and blue.

Green: It is used for the first memories of her with Joel, when she meets him at a beach party.
Red: it is used in the memories that have to do with the beginnings of their relationship. They largely coincide with the happiest moments.
Orange: It implies attrition of the relationship, the most recent memories of Joel and Clementine.
Blue: It is the present of the film, when the ex-partner has a new life separately and they meet again without knowing that they were ever together.

The origin of the film in a poem by Alexander Pope

In the 18th century, Alexander Pope wrote these verses, belonging to the poem Heloise to Abelard:

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.

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How happy is the fate of the Immaculate Vestal!
Forget the world and for the world forgotten.
Eternal radiance of a spotless mind!
Every prayer accepted, every wish expired.

These verses based on a true heartbreak story, give rise to the original title of the film, Is this a reflection on the possibility of detaching ourselves from each other through I forget? What are we without memory?

Characters

Joel Barish (Jim Carrey): he is a shy, lonely and prudent man. He had a relationship with Naomi, and later he met Clementine, who also becomes his ex-girlfriend. When he discovers that Clementine has decided to erase him from her memory, Joel agrees to undergo treatment that will remove all memories of her stormy relationship.
Clementine Kruczynski (Kate Winslet): she is an impulsive, spontaneous and somewhat unpredictable woman. He constantly changes his hair color depending on his mood. He is sincere and his personality is far from Joel's. After his bad experience, he decides to erase his memories with Joel.
Mary Svevo (Kirsten Dunst): receptionist at the Lacuna clinic. One day he discovers that she was also a patient at the clinic, after having a relationship with her boss, and she decides to send the tapes to all the clients so that they find out about the experiment they went to submitted.
Patrick (Elijah Wood): he is a Lacuna worker, charged with erasing memories from minds. Patrick takes advantage of the situation to win Clementine's affection.
Howard Mierzwiak (Tom Wilkinson): he is the chief doctor of the Lacuna clinic. He cheats on his wife with Mary, her receptionist, and then subjects her to the experiment without her consent to make her forget it.