How happy is the blameless vestal's lot! / The world forgetting, by the world forgot / Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind! / Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd.
Watched, 'Eternal Sunshine' finally.
I'm not quite sure why it confused so many people. I pretty much got it - or thought I did - and I liked it. But didn't love it. For such an odd movie, something about it seemed so predictable. The main thing with ESotSM is that you have to sort of go with the dream sequence hyper enhanced fantasy of it all. But it follows a rather logical path of artsy progression. Or maybe I thought it did after watching, "The Science of Sleep." which I found vastly more confusing than ESotSM (oh wait...der, der, der Michel Gondry directed both of these movies - of course it makes sense now). I loved the sequences where Carrey was only ever able to see the back of Patrick's head or Clementine walking away but never catching up to her - something that happens enough in my own dream sessions.
I'm not quite sure why it confused so many people. I pretty much got it - or thought I did - and I liked it. But didn't love it. For such an odd movie, something about it seemed so predictable. The main thing with ESotSM is that you have to sort of go with the dream sequence hyper enhanced fantasy of it all. But it follows a rather logical path of artsy progression. Or maybe I thought it did after watching, "The Science of Sleep." which I found vastly more confusing than ESotSM (oh wait...der, der, der Michel Gondry directed both of these movies - of course it makes sense now). I loved the sequences where Carrey was only ever able to see the back of Patrick's head or Clementine walking away but never catching up to her - something that happens enough in my own dream sessions.
But it brought up an interesting quandry. Do we love whom we are attracted to, regardless of our past knowledge and drawn strictly by the base instincts that lie in our physical/psychological makeup? At the end of the movie; even with their memories wiped, both Clementine and Joel are drawn back to one another. Joel, by his realization of his enduring love for the real Clem during his rebellious wiping sessions, in which he learns to save just the one memory, "Meet me in Montauk." And she, unwittingly by Patrick (Elijah Woods)'s machinations of seduction - by tampering with her memory too soon with the words, visions and artifacts of Joel, nearly has a mental malfunction trying to resolve the confusion of recall with instinct. And even with her own memory erased by her ex lover, Mary (Kirsten Dunst) falls infatuated with him all over again.
It also brings up the question of the complexity of the human brain. Even if we seemingly have our brains mapped and chemically or electronically have our memories wiped - are there deeper biological urges that trigger our attractions? Would a person essentially have to be brainwashed from the beginning of their existence in order not to be attracted to what they are attracted to? It literally changes what it means to be homosexual, racist or even our preference for chocolate chunk ice cream.
And I'd also like to think that my whacked out dreams may be caused by Mark Ruffalo and Elijah Wood coming in and putting a huge colander on my head as I sleep. I would like to ask them though, to let me keep my 'Rocky Horror' choreography straight.
"Too many guys think I'm a concept, or I complete them, or I'm gonna make them alive. But I'm just a fucked-up girl who's lookin' for my own peace of mind; don't assign me yours."
-Clementine
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