A Summary and Review of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a quirky semi-sci-fi romantic comedy that became an instant indie classic upon its release in 2004. Starring Kate Winslet and Jim Carrey, Eternal Sunshine (as it is commonly known by fans) tells the modern day fomantic tragedy of Clementine Kruczynski (Winslet) and Joel Barrish (Carrey). Clementine has recently left Joel and had a procedure done to remove her memories of their relationship, something that is first kept from Joel. When he finds out he is angry, confused, and extremely hurt, so he decides to retaliate by getting his memories of her erased as well. Joel is taken to a bizarre clinic run by Dr. Howard Mierzwiak (Tom Wilkinson) to have preparations done for that night, when technicians come in and erase the memories while he is asleep.

But nothing is what it seems. For one, there is an opening section that does not make any sense for much of the movie until the very end. Joel also decides halfway through the procedure that he does not want to go through with it, that Clementine is too special to him and that he would not want to lose the good memories he has of her. He struggles against the procedure as he and the memory Clementine fight against the computer erasing the memories. With a bittersweet, ambiguous ending, Eternal Sunshine will leave you not only thinking about the science fiction but the unique love story at the heart of a truly unusual film.

Eternal Sunshine won critical acclaim. Winslet was nominated for an Oscar for her performance, and screenwriter Charlie Kaufman won an Oscar for best original screenplay. The film was also nominated for some of the American Film Institute’s lists and was the second most-acclaimed movie of the 2000s because of its frequent appearances on best-of lists.