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Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind(2004)
Focus Features Mar 19, 2004 | Wide
When their relationship turns sour, a couple undergoes a medical procedure to have each other erased from their memories forever.
Releases
Original Release | Mar 19, 2004
Box Office
Results
$8,175,198
$34,400,301
$38,988,867
$73,395,181
Director & Top Cast
Technical Specifications
Sound Mix: DTS,Dolby,SDDS
Aspect Ratio: 1.85 : 1
Other Details
Country of Origin: United States
Language: English
Summaries
Plot Summary
- Clementine entered Joel's apartment at 3 am, she was drunk and had wrecked Joel's car. Joel calls Clementine an alcoholic. Clementine says that Joel is only angry as she had fun without him, and now he wonders whether Clementine had sex with anyone. Clementine storms out when Joel says that she uses sex to get people to like her. Few days ago, Joel and Clementine were at the flea market when Clementine says that she wanted to have a baby, but Joel said that they were not ready. They had a fight when Joel said he didn't think Clementine would make a good mother. After this fight, Joel Barish (Jim Carrey) (A bookish introvert) discovers that his girlfriend Clementine Kruczynski (Kate Winslet) (A spontaneous extrovert) has had her memories of him erased by the New York City firm Lacuna.It was 3 days before valentine's day and Joel had gone to visit Clementine at the bookstore where she worked (to give her a Valentine's Day present), and she had no memory of him, and was dating another guy. Joel goes to his friends Carrie Eakin (Jane Adams) & Rob Eakin (David Cross), and there he finds a card from Lacuna Inc stating that Clementine has had the procedure to erase Joel from her memories and that they should refrain Joel from trying to contact her ever again. Joel is distraught and frustrated to learn that Clementine chooses to erase Joel from her life.Heartbroken, he decides to undergo the same procedure. Joel visits Lacuna and meets the doctor and owner Howard (Tom Wilkinson) and fixes an appointment for the day before Valentine. Howard refuses to talk about Clementine but says that she was deeply unhappy. In preparation, he records a tape for Lacuna (and also collects everything associated to Clementine in his life), recounting his memories of their volatile relationship. Howard's technician Stan (Mark Ruffalo) uses the objects associated to Clementine to make a map of Howard's memory in his brain. Technically the procedure is brain damage, but Howard says that it is on par with a night of heavy drinking.In flashback, it is shown that they had met on a day when Joel was in Montauk with his girlfriend Naomi. Naomi and Joel were invited to a party on beach, but Naomi could not go. The beach was freezing in February. Clementine was chatty, while Joel was shy and awkward. Joel was attracted to the orange sweatshirt that Clementine was wearing. She was vivacious and decided to spend the night in an empty house right on the beach. She invited Joel in, but he left. Later they meet in the city, and they start dating.The Lacuna employees Stan and Patrick (who enter Joel's apartment by stealth, while he is asleep) work on Joel's brain as he sleeps in his apartment so that he will wake up with no memory of the procedure. When Joel had got home that evening, he had received a package from Lacuna, that gave him precise instructions to prepare for the procedure, including PJs to wear and a sleeping pill so that he doesn't wake up unexpectedly. So, Joel knew that the technicians would be coming.Stan and Patrick make fun of Joel and his feelings for Clementine. One employee, Patrick (Elijah Wood), leaves to see Clementine; since her procedure, he has been using Joel's and Clementine's memories as a guide for seducing her. Patrick fell in love with Clementine on the night of her procedure and even stole her panties. He leaves Joel's house in the middle of the procedure to meet Clementine (whom he calls tangerine due to her hair color), when Mary arrives to meet Stan at Joel's apartment. Patrick gives Joel's valentine gift to Clementine as a gift from himself. Mary, the receptionist for Lacuna who, while dating Stan Fink, has a crush on Howard Mierzwiak. While the procedure runs on Joel's brain, technician Stan (Mark Ruffalo) and Mary (Kirsten Dunst) party and have sex, right on the bed where Joel is sleeping and having his memories erased.Joel re-experiences his memories of Clementine as they are erased, starting with their last fight. Stan is not happy as he is not getting as clean a map as he would have liked. While Stan and Patrick argue, Joel can hear their comments during his reliving of his own memories in his subconscious brain. As Joe reaches earlier, happier memories, he realizes that he does not want to forget her. His mental projection of Clementine suggests that Joel hid her in memories that do not involve her. This halts the procedure, but Stan calls the Lacuna boss, Howard (Tom Wilkinson), who arrives and restarts it. Joel comes to his last remaining memory of Clementine: the day they first met, on a beach in Montauk. As the memory crumbles around them, Clementine tells Joel to meet her in Montauk.In Joel's apartment, while Stan is outside, Mary tells Howard she is in love with him, and they kiss. Howard's wife Hollis (Deirdre O'Connell) arrives, and, from the street, sees them through the window. Furious, she tells Howard to tell Mary the truth: that Mary and Howard previously had an affair, and that Mary had her memories erased. Disgusted, Mary steals the Lacuna records and mails them to the patients, including Joel and Clementine.Joel wakes up, his memories of Clementine erased. He goes to Montauk on impulse, by skipping work that day (it was Valentine's Day 2004). Once again, the beach is freezing as it is February and Joel makes an entry in his diary. Joel sees Clementine in her Orange sweatshirt on the beach and then at a local diner but doesn't talk to her. He meets Clementine again on the train home. They both have the feeling that they have met each other previously.They are drawn to each other. Joel offers Clementine a lift after they reach Boston. They spend time at Clementine's apartment before Joel goes home, but he calls Clementine right after he gets home. The same night, they go on a date to the frozen Charles River in Boston. Joel drives Clementine home and Patrick sees them, realizing they have found each other again. Joel and Clementine receive their Lacuna records and listen to their tapes. They are shocked by the bitter memories they had of each other but agree to try again.
Storyline
- Much to his surprise, timid Joel Barish is shocked to discover that the love of his life, sparky Clementine, has had him erased from her memory. As a result, hurt and angry, Joel wants to pay her back in the same coin, going as far as to undergo a painless but intricate medical procedure to do the same. However, poor Joel is utterly unaware that darkness is an essential part of the light. And as the once-cherished recollections of Clementine gradually fade away, giving way to a soulless black void, something unexpected happens. Now Joel has second thoughts, toying with the idea of stopping the irreversible process. Who said ignorance is bliss? — Nick Riganas A man awakes disheveled; impulsively, he skips work, heading instead to the shore. On this chilly February day, a woman in orange, hair dyed blue, chats him up: she's Clementine, he's Joel, shy and sad; by day's end, he likes her. The next night she takes him to the frozen Charles River. After, as he drops her off, she asks to sleep at his place, and she runs up to get her toothbrush. Strange things occur: their meeting was not entirely chance, they have a history neither remembers. Our seeing how the lacunae came to be and their discovery of the memory loss take the rest of the film. —
