In 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind' she plays Clementine Kruczynski an impulsive American chick always on the lookout for adventure. She meets Jim Carrey’s character Joel Barish at a beech party in New York State. Joel is a reserved sensitive guy who enjoys sketching crazy caricatures and keeping a journal for a hobby. So here you have two very different actors cast in each others’ typical roles: Winslet plays the wild one, Carrey the serious one.
If that isn’t interesting enough, the story itself is an amazing tale about human memory and falling in and out of love.
Joel and Clem find happiness together against the backdrop of a drab winter in their dull East Coast town. But at some point down the line they start to have arguments. Impulsive as ever Clem goes to a doctor who claims to be able to erase specific memories. She simply has the memory of Joel erased from her mind.
Joel finds out and is completely devastated. Carrey is totally convincing as someone who comes up against such an unfathomable crisis. Out of pain and maybe a helpless bid for revenge he decides to undergo the same procedure.
This is when the film really starts to play with your mind. Two geeks from the doctor’s company show up at Joel’s apartment one night to perform the procedure. Patrick (Elijah Wood) and Stan (Mark Ruffalo) hook Joel up to all manner of wires and a brain scanner as he sleeps. They’re great as the careless bumbling removal men! Kirsten Dunst plays Stan’s girlfriend, Mary, but is excellent as the innocent yet compassionate doctor’s secretary.
Meanwhile we see Joel transported back to all his memories of being with Clem – one by one they are deleted. But then he realises that some of the memories he wants to keep and makes a last ditch attempt to save them and his love.
It is a story of heroic hope against the odds. The film’s frenetic confusion is so gripping you won’t dare look away – you want Joel and Clem to rediscover their spark.
French director Michel Gondry seamlessly weaves the story together. The scene where Joel takes Clem back to his childhood to try and escape the memory erasure is one of the movie’s highlights. Gondry plays with the size of the characters – and even switches them for two little children at one point. I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen such a funny yet poignant scene.
The film won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay in 2005. Although it shares themes with ‘Being John Malkovich’, ‘Spotless Mind’ is a far more engaging piece from screenwriter Charlie Kaufman. Fair credit should also be given to eighteenth century English poet Alexander Pope who penned the poem on which the film is based. The beautiful title is directly taken from his ‘Eloisa to Abelard’.
Kate Winslet was nominated for Best Actress but lost out to Hilary Swank in ‘Million Dollar Baby’. For me it was easier to sympathise with Joel than Clem, but that in no way detracts from a brilliant performance by Winslet. Together Carrey and Winslet pull your heartstrings all over the place, but by the end the emotional gymnastics are most definitely worth it.
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