I never thought that I'd be comparing All the Real Girls with Memento in the same review. Both are a couple of my favourites from the past couple of years. They're also polar opposites. All the Real Girls takes a genuine look at the ups and downs of an intimate relationship, while Memento is a time-bending thriller revolving around the loss of memory. At its very essence, if that is possible with Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, these two plot summaries capture the feel of what's happening in the latest film written by meta-scribe Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation).

Eternal Sunshine begins with Joel Barish (Jim Carrey) heading off for work. He's glum but we're given no reason why. As he makes his way to the train station, Joel decides on a whim to skip work and jump on a different train.

Flashback a couple of years. Joel is in love with Clemintine Kruczynski (Kate Winslett). Their romance develops over the course of long conversations, memorable dates and normal, everyday life experiences. Eventually, though things become stale and the romance gives way to resentment. Finally Clementine leaves and goes to the extreme of getting her memory erased of all hints of Joel (in the film's world, memory erasing is on the same level as acupunture or laser eye surgery).

When Joel gets wind of this, he too goes through the same procedure. Love hurts. Lost love hurts even more. But just as the mind wipe is about to begin, Joel has second thoughts. And so the strangeness ensues as the film follows Joel as he tries to outrun the memory erase. In doing so Gondry recreates some semblence of the love Joel and Clementine once shared, following Joel through his nostalgic memories and into the roots of his pain.

Even amongst all the weirdness, there's something very genuine about the relationship between Joel and Clementine. This was the appeal for me with All the Real Girls and this is a big part of what's so great about Eternal Sunshine. Joel and Clementine don't share any big moments of skywriting or carrage rides. Instead it's the smaller moments where their love emerges. You see how they compliment and change each other for the good. Joel has gone through life largely unnoticed. He blends into a crowd. Clementine, on the other hand, has a habit of constantly changing the colour of her hair, rotating between various shades that would all be described as bright - very bright. By association with Clementine, Joel now stands out for the first time in his life too. He's somebody.

Eternal Sunshine is in many ways more straightforward than Kaufman's other scripts as reality and memory are all distinct, even if they are sometimes seemlessly blended. I never felt lost in the narrative, nor was I able to guess what was going to happen next. Part science fiction, part romance, part nothing you've ever seen before, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a fresh spin on love and all things rosey and scary.

©Movie Views; March 29, 2004