The New York Times Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind ......Spotless Mind Joel Barish, played by...
Transcript of The New York Times Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind ......Spotless Mind Joel Barish, played by...
We’ve all been in bad relationships. Some were romantic
relationships, family, work and even pet relationships.
Even though they are all very different each one has one
thing in common; they were bad. What if you could take
those accumulated memories that clutter the darkened cor-
ners of your mind, left there never to be glanced upon
again, and completely and utterly obliterate them as if they
never had happened? In the film Eternal Sunshine of the
Spotless Mind Joel Barish, played by actor Jim Carrey, and
Clementine Kruczynski, played by actress Kate Winslet get
that very opportunity.
Joel, a single man frustrated with himself and his life meets
Clementine on a sporadic trip he took to the beach one
morning instead of going to work. Clementine, hair of blue
and warmed in a bright orange sweater, could care less
about what other people thought and holds an attitude of
enjoyment of life. In other words, nearly the exact opposite
of Joel. There’s like many relationships didn’t flourish im-
mediately, but not without some hesitation on Joel’s part
the two became a couple spending all hours of the day and
night with each other for two years. There’s also, like many
relationships, eventually goes bad. Heart broken, Joel seeks
the comfort of family and friends to help him cope with the
loss of his companionship only to find that there is nothing
to be done to erase the pain of love lost. Out of hopeless-
ness, an answer does come in the form of a revolutionary
experimental non-surgical procedure.
Under the care of Dr. Mierzwiak, played by Tom Wil-
kinson, accompanied by his assistants, actors Mark Ruffa-
lo, Elijah Wood, and actress Kirsten Dunst, Joel Barish un-
dergoes Mierzwiak’s new procedure to completely erase all
traces of his lost love Clementine. As second thoughts arise
mid erasing Joel must decide whether to go through with
erasing fond memories of Clementine forever or holding on
to what remains.
In what The New York Times states as Jim Car-
rey’s best work, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless
Mind conveys a message of the importance of
romantic relationships, the good and the bad. Jo-
el’s life changed dramatically with the introduc-
tion of Clementine and when the relationship
goes bad he is faced with the decision of keeping
memories of her in his life or returning to the
uneventful routine yet unhappy state of normalcy
that he once lived in.
Visual Review
Sound Effects
The first sound of the film is the vague distant shutting of
a car door which cues the awakening of the main charac-
ter. As one element of film design, the sound effect of the
car door closing nearly inaudible sparks the curiosity of
the viewer into wondering what just happened and if it
was related at all to the story.
Reaction Shot
As Joel Barish opens his eyes awaking from the night it is
already evident that something has happened. Though the
reason for Joel’s first thing in the morning wake up reac-
tion is not explained or revealed until the end of the film,
his facial expression grabs the attention of the viewers,
drawing upon their curiosity and gripping their attention
wondering what could have happened before he awoke.
Lighting
The natural morning light provides a kind of dream like
feel to the opening scene of the film. Much like the calm
before the storm, the entire introduction to the main char-
acter Joel is shot in this lighting. He wakes up, gets
ready, and makes his way to work all in the same Mon
ought lighting. This all gradually begins to changes as
free spirited Clementine is introduced into the life of Jo-
el. As Clementine slowly meanders towards Joel on a
beach in Montauk, the lighting of the surroundings be-
gins to illuminate and throughout their first meeting the
lighting is much brighter.
Color
From the beginning scene everyone including the main
character is dressed in neutral colored clothing; the ma-
jority having a shade of blue. Joel wakes in dark blue
button-up sleep wear, leaves his home in a dark blue
overcoat and beanie. Even at the train depot the people
waiting are dressed in shades of blue and brown. One
color does stand out of the dull shades- a red bouquet of
roses. This color that stands out among the crowd is the
first indicator that
that something is going to change. Joel sees the train
in the opposite direction arriving at the depot and
sporadically ducks through the crowd of clue and
brown train station waiters, running along the lively
yellow lane that marks the danger zone of the train
tracks. Joel makes it to the other side of the tracks
and squeezes his way between the closing doors into
the fiery red and orange sided train alluding that
something exciting was going to happen; something
that was out of the ordinary with Joel Barish.
Quick Cutting
On the train ride back to where Joel is from Clemen-
tine finally makes the move to introduce herself and
strike up a conversation with Joel. Nearly each time
Joel and Clementine speak the camera makes a cut
shot that only places the speaker in the frame gener-
ating an energy and excitement to the viewer. You
know that things are finally starting to take off for
Joel and almost feel the nervousness of the moment.