[WARNING: Spoilers]
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is the latest film offering from the team that brought you Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, et al. It features Jim Carey, apparently hired for his ability to make cute faces, Kirsten Dunst, apparently hired for her proclivity to jump on beds in her skimpies, and Kate Winslet, possibly hired for her ability to behave badly and speak in a passable Sri Lankan accent while acting in film set in New Jersey. The film sucks, too.
Generally the pathology of relationships are interesting to me; here it is interesting enough - when you're trying for a second time, when you've already had a crack at it and failed, how you deal with knowing all the things that you're going to start feeling at that point when "the honeymoon's over" and the cracks start appearing - the true test of a relationship, right? But I always have the same goddamn problems with the films that these people make. The idea on paper for this one is fine - explore ideas of destiny, predetermination vs. freewill; does history, given every opportunity, really repeat itself? Plus they get to deploy the narrative device of the general public being able to book an appointment for a selective memory erasing procedure about as casually as having a couple of teeth filled.
As per usual this film doesn't go deep enough - ok, it seems Mary [Dunst] can't help throwing herself at Howard again - it's written in the stars or her DNA or something. The assumption is she could keep undergoing the procedure and still find him irresistable - this is one angle on the issue. Joel [Carey] and Clementine [Winslet] both undergo the procedure - on their memories of each other - but meet and hook up again; only a twist lets them discover how much they hated each other the first time around.
So effectively they wind up where any other couple do who are giving it a second try (or third or fourth or whatever) except this time they're missing the links between where they are now (and where they were originally) and where they ended up. This is the other angle - but all of the interesting things about their situation are voided by the storyline. And when you really think about it, there's no resolution to this narrative trap. They could either have been like everyone else and know how it went wrong and have a chance at avoiding it a second time; or be like Mary, have no idea about anything, and start from a clean slate. Either way, there's no film.
No film, just smoke and mirrors to distract you from the fact. Eternal Sunshine... is cinematically interesting, mostly, if quite cliched now - I'm a bit over this shit, I suspect. And because I can't accept their story resolutions I can't suspend my disbelief and as always, I finish the film not really caring about the participants at all. It may be technically sound, but ultimately unmoving and a bit dull.
Unconsequential. And that's the most brutal assessment I can make of a film. So I'm left wondering... why do people really like these films? 'Cos they do - a lot.
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