ILM TECHNIQUESIN ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE ^

SPOTLESS

FILMÍTEXT

VIVIENSILVEY

ternal Sunshine of theSpotless Mind (MichelGondry, 2004) is not youraverage love story. It hasmore in common witharthouse films like Punch-Drunk Love (Paul ThomasAnderson, 2002) and GardenState (Zach Braff, 2004) thanit does with glossy andpredictable Hollywood roman-tic comedies like WhatHappens in Vegas (TomVaughan, 2008) or Made ofHonor (Paul Weiland, 2008).The innovative use of narra-tive, mise en scène, cinema-tography, editing and the

soundtrack in Eternal Sun-shine all serve to convey thetenderness, confusion,miscommunication, pain andhope that accompanyromantic endeavours. Theyunderscore the film's mes-sage that when you haveloved and lost, it is better toremember, mourn and honourthat loss than to remain inignorance of pain and thehappiness you once had.

Narrative: right backwhere they started

Eternal Sunshine's narrative

structure underscores thenotion that without awarenessof the past, history is doomedto repeat itself. Told in anon-linear, circular structure,the story ends where the filmbegan, with Joei (Jim Carrey)and Clementine (Kate Winslet)meeting and beginning to fallin love. Unbeknown to them,it is not for the first time. As itturns out, they have erasedeach other from their memo-ries after their two-yearrelationship fell apart. Having'met' once more, however,they are again attracted toeach other and their courtship

139

1931 2009

FILM<TEXT

is repeated. In the lastscenes of the film, the truthabout their past relationshipis revealed to them and theyface uncertainty as towhether they can trust in thefuture of another one.Nevertheless, they decide tokeep seeing each other

Eternal Sunshine's circularnarrative also criticises theidea that ignorance is bliss, aconcept raised in AlexanderPope's poem 'Eloisa toAbelard' (1717) from whichthe film draws its title.Instead of bliss, ignorance Isshown to lead to deception

tells Stan he is now datingClementine, We then seePatrick repeating things toClementine that Joel hadpreviously said to her. Theseplagiarised lines are disturb-ing because Clementinedoes not know that theyoriginally belonged to Joel,

Told in a non-linear circular structure, the

story ends where the film began, with

Joel (Jim Carrey) and Clementine (Kate

Winslet) meeting and beginning to fall in love.

Unbeknown to them, it is not for the first time.

40

despite what the future mayhold. Like Groundhog Day(Harold Ramis, 1993), thisconcept of a moment in timebeing repeated and recon-sidered puts into practiceNietzsche's idea of 'eternalreturn', showing that whatmakes these people heroic isthe fact that they embracetheir inevitable attraction toone another.̂

and pain. Running parallel tothe central story is a subplotinvolving the employees atthe Lacuna clinic (whosename implies 'lacunaramnesia', a type of selectiveamnesia) who perform thememory erasure. While Lacu-na technicians Patrick (ElijahWood) and Stan (MarkRuffalo) are erasing Joel'smemory, the creepy Patrick

since he has been erasedfrom her memory. Patrick'sbehaviour testifies to thedeceit which ignorancepermits.

Further echoing the complex-ities of Joel and Clementine'sstory, Stan is in love withLacuna's secretary Mary{Kirsten Dunst), but she inturn has a crush on their

married boss. Dr. HowardMierzwiak (Tom Wilkinson). Itturns out that, like Joel andClementine, Mary andHoward previously had anaffair, Mary had her memoryof it erased, but is againevidently attracted to him.When Howard's wifediscovers them once againflirting, she tells Mary thetruth. Shocked that hermemory has been violated,Mary goes back to the clinicand sends out the patients'files to their owners. This ishow Joel and Clementinediscover the truth about theirpast and presumably howmany other people do. Thereis room to believe that afterthis point Mary will be able tomove on and form a roman-tic relationship with Stan.With lost memories not somuch restored as acknowl-edged, the essential mes-sage of the film is thatpeople require memories inorder to grow and learn fromtheir experiences, no matterhow painful or shameful theymay be.

Mise en scène:remembering peopleand places

A key aspect of any film isthe mise en scene, or thethings that appear within thecamera frame. Objects,locations and costumes allform part of the mise enscène, helping to create thefilm's themes and moods. InEternal Sunshine much of themise en scène is used toevoke nostalgia for Joel andClementine's relationship. Inorder to undergo the memoryerasure, Joel has to gathertogether all the objects thatremind him of Clementine.Emptied of these quirky,colourful knick-knacks Joel'sapartment seems bare anddrab, reflecting his emotionalblandness when Clementineis absent. Throughout thefilm these objects reappearin their original contexts,showing how they first cameto form his impression of hervibrant personality. Forexample, the potato dolls,Joel's paintings of Clemen-tine and the mug with herphoto on it are shown in

both the clinic and in thememories of their timestogether.

The clinic itself is presentedlike a dentist's office, withcramped corridors anddishevelled piles of paper.These all suggest the factthat the human mind is not anorderly, precise entity; that, infact, memory is a place that isjumbled and complex. Theglimpse of an old lady in achair that would not be out ofplace in a hairdressing salonrecalls the famous imagefrom A Clockwork Orange(Stanley Kubrick, 1971) (orThe Simpsons episode 'Dogof Death') where the protago-nist is forced to watch filmsand listen to Beethoven as amethod of social recondition-ing. Other shots of people inthe waiting room holdingmemorabilia of dead pets andfailed sports careers showhow painful memories are anaspect of everyday life. Theoffer of a 'quick fix' to theseproblems is ultimately shownto be an ill-fitting solution tothe problem.

in the process of the memoryerasure, the objects associ-ated with Clementine blurand are placed In disorient-ing contexts, showing thedisintegration of Joel'smemory. Clementine andJoel's bed is suddenlytransposed onto the snowybeach where they first met,the table set of the Chineserestaurant where they ateregularly is shown at onepoint in an otherwise emptyroom, and the titles in theBarnes & Noble bookstorewhere Clementine worksbecome blank like the fadingphotos in the Back to theFuture trilogy (RobertZemeckis. 1985, 1989,1990). Sand is a motifthroughout the film, symbol-ising the way in which Joel'smemories are slippingthrough his hands. At onepoint Joel is shown buriedup to his neck in sand,unable to free himself fromthis loss. In his last memoryto disappear, the housewhere the couple first metcrashes down around themand the floorboards turn tosand. It is significant that

Joel and Clementine meetboth times (before and afterthe erasing procedure) onthe wintry beach, since thissets the tone for theirturbulent yet beautiful affair.

Nostalgia is evoked by theuse of sunlight and a lighthaze in Joel's home-centredmemories, as well as inthose set in his childhood.Gondry's DVD commentarypoints out that the filmmak-ers used a type of smoke incertain scenes to convey arealistically homely atmos-phere. In the scenes whenJoel visits his friends andwhen he and Clementine arein bed during the day. thishaziness lends naturalnessto the settings, underscoringthe everyday nature of thestory. These homes are filledwith the sunlit dust motesthat lay claim to our pres-ence in time and space.Joel's memories are thuseffectively evoked asphysical moments as well asemotional ones.

The two scenes set in Joel'schildhood exploit aspects of

1931 2009

FILM<TEXT

142

size and consciousness,highlighting the distortions ofthe memory erasure. In thekitchen scene, Joel issometimes played by JimCarrey and at others by alittle boy of the right age forthe memory. Forced per-spective (where things closeto the camera seem large,and things in the distanceseem tiny) and giganticfurniture are used to recreatethe memory vividly. Joel'sbehaviour also alternatesbetween babyish and adult,this uncontrollable fluctua-tion creating tension as hisand Clementine's plightbecomes more desperate. Abrief glimpse of them beingbathed in the kitchen sinkbefore suddenly beingsucked down the drainsimilarly mixes nostalgia withthe panic of the chase. Incontrast, the scenes outsidewhere other children pres-sure Joel into hammering adead pigeon convey the painand humiliation that child-hood memories in particularcan hold. With the charactersagain played both bychildren and the adult actors.

Clementine comforts Joel,her pink cowgirl hat and hisred cape underscoring theirrespective resourcefulnessand disappointment.

Cinematography:closer and turtherapart

The cinematography inEternal Sunshine is used in avariety of ways to emphasisethe moods of the charactersand their relationships. Earlyon when Clementine ap-proaches Joel on the train,the camera seems to behand-held, but is actually aSteadicam, which is easier tocontrol but produces a similareffect. It wavers around andshows them from differentangles. This uneasiness ofthe camera reflects theawkwardness of theirconversation, yet It lingers onthe characters just as theyfeel drawn towards eachother. Much of the film is shotin this intimate way, with thecamera seeming to move andbreathe aiong with thecharacters, accentuating thetendemess of their interactions.

At points of panic during thechase, the camera tends toshow Joel and Clementinefrom high angles and In wideshot. When Joel andClementine bolt through atrain station, the cameralooks down at their distantfigures as if they are littlespecimens trying to escapea Petri dish. The camera alsoviews Joel from a distanceshortly before this when hecurses the heavens, yelling'Can you hear me? I don'twant this any more! I want tocall it off!' His helplessness inthe face of the memoryerasure is emphasisedby these belittlingcamera angles.

Another important facet ofthe cinematography is theway in which lighting andshadows are used to signifythe spaces in Joel's memory.Clementine slips off intoshadows frequently as thechase becomes more andmore frantic, with theseshadows signifying Joelforgetting her. Increasinglythe frame becomes edgedwith darkness, closing in on

Joel as the procedure drawsto its hideous conclusion.Meanwhile, in the apartmentthe lighting on Stan andMary remains steady, alertingus to the fact that their storyis taking place in reality asopposed to the chaotic messof Joel's mind.

Editing: balancing thereal world and theworld ot memory

The editing plays a crucialpart in the construction ofthe circular narrative. Thefact that the opening creditsstart when the film hasalready been going fortwenty minutes signals thatsomething unusual is goingon in this film. The truth isthat the scenes up until theopening credits actuallybelong at the end of thestory, yet on first viewing ofthe film we are not meant torealise this. Accordingly, thelength of the scenes towardsthe film's end are similar tothose of the opening,matching up as a continua-tion of that day's story.During the body of the film,

the pace of the editingcarefully balances thescenes in Joel's mind withthose involving Stan, Maryand Howard in the real world.Shorter scenes of Joel andClementine fleeing are offsetwith the longer scenes ofMary and Stan dancing andgetting ready for Howard'sarrival, as well as theconfrontation between Mary,Howard and his wife.

In the scenes from Joel'smind, the editing balancesthe shorter scenes of Joeland Clementine running withthe longer scenes of themrelishing their time together.Towards the end of thechase sequence we see Joeland Clementine sitting onramshackle wooden stairswith the handrail separatingthem. The tone suddenlyalters as Joel becomesaware that his memory ofClementine is soon going todisintegrate and be foreverbarred from him. Clemen-tine-as-Joel's-consciencesays to him, 'This is it, Joel.This is going to be gonesoon ... What do we do?', to

which Joel, powerless tostop the memory erasure,can only reply, 'Enjoy it.' Thenext scene in the collapsinghouse is relatively long,giving them time and spaceto attempt to enjoy their lastmoments together andproperly farewell theircherished memories.

and sound effects empha-sise the preciousness ofmemory. Film composer JonBrion's instrumental musicuses a variety of strangesounds played in particularmoments in the film. Forexample, as the DVDcommentary points out, inthe scene on the train the

last precious moments at thebeach. When they are in thecollapsing beach house thereis no music as they re-enactthe memory, but when Joelreflects, 'I wish I had stayed,'and Clementine-as-Joel's-conscience agrees, pianomusic starts to play. Theold-time piano's tune is sad.

Sand is a motif throughout the film,symbolising the way in whichJoel's memories are slipping

through his hands.

Soundtrack: music asmemory

A subtle yet crucial part ofany film is its soundtrack. Weoften tend not to notice thebackground music playingthroughout films when weare concentrating on thenarrative. The soundtracksubliminally affects ouremotional responses to whatis happening onscreen. InEternal Sunshine the music

music plays while Joel andClementine talk, but notwhen they are silent: thisdisjointed flow of musicemphasises the stiltedrhythm of their conversation.

Within Joel's memory, themusic tends to play when heand Clementine becomeconscious of the fact that itis a memory. The sound ofviolins and a heartbeat addto the melancholy of their

its reverberations evokingthe regret of losing thesemoments. Fittingly, a small,flat-lining beep abruptlycloses the scene and endsthe whole procedure, asHoward and Stan unsympa-thetically cut short Joel'smemories.

The song 'Everybody's GottaLearn Sometime' (Beck'scover of a 1980s pop songby the Korgis) suits the

1931 2009F I L M<TEXT

movie's themes perfectly.The tone of the song is sad,and the chorus lines 'I needyour loving/like the sunshine'call to mind both Joel's needfor Clementine's love and the

answers the idea thatignorance is bliss. It implies,as does the film, that peopleneed to learn from thememory of their mistakes inorder to hold on to love.

difficulties of romanticrelationships. While typicalHollywood films end with thecouple getting together.Eternal Sunshine of the Spot-less Mind shows couples

W ith lost memories not so muchrestored as ocknowledged, theessential message of the film is

that people require memories in order to growand learn from their experiences, no matterhow painful or shameful they may be.

'sunshine' of ignorancecreated by the memoryerasure. The next line'Everybody's gotta learnsometime' thematically

Michel Gondry's incrediblysubtle and complex filmexploits its cinematictechniques effectively toportray the tenderness and

that have already fallen inand out of love. However, thefilm argues that instead oftrying to find a quick fix tothe pain of break-ups, the

solution lies in respectfullyholding on to memories ofboth the good times and thebad. In doing so, the filmshows that people can learnfrom mistakes and move onto a better future.

Vivien Silvey Is a postgraduatestudent at ANU. •

End notes' Friedrich Nietzsche, A

Nietzsche Reader, select-ed and translated by R. J.Hollingdale, PenguinBooks, Ringwood, Victoria,Australia, 1977, pp.249-256.

This Film As Text guide was produced by ATOM editor@atom.org.au > For more information on SCREEN EDUCATIONmagazine, or to download other free study guides, visit http://www.nietromagazine.coin.au > For hundreds of articles onFilm as Text, Screen Literacy, Multiliteracy and Media Studies, visit http://www.theeducationshop.coin.au > If you wouldlike to be invited to free screenings for teachers, please email editor@atom.org.au writing 'Subscribe'. Please Indicate inwhich state or territory you are located.