Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Jim Carrey Director: Michel Gondry Michel Gondry

Overview

The second feature from director Michel Gondry (Human Nature) finds the filmmaker reteaming with screenwriter Charlie Kaufman for this off-the-wall romantic comedy. Jim Carrey stars as Joel Barish, a man who is informed that his ex-girlfriend Clementine (Kate Winslet) has had her memories of their relationship erased from her brain via an experimental procedure performed by Dr. Mierzwiak (Tom Wilkinson). Not to be outdone, Joel decides to have the same procedure done to himself. As Mierzwiak's bumbling underlings Stan (Mark Ruffalo) and Patrick (Elijah Wood) perform the operation on Joel -- over the course of an evening, in his apartment -- Joel struggles in his own mind to save the memories of Clementine from being deleted. Kirsten Dunst, David Cross, and Jane Adams also star.

Product Details

Release Date:	01/25/2011
UPC:	0025192073748
Original Release:	2004
Rating:	R
Source:	Focus Features
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[DTS 5.1-Channel Surround Sound, Dolby AC-3 Surround Sound]
Time:	1:48:00
Sales rank:	7,239

Special Features

A look inside Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless MInd; Deleted and extended scenes; A conversation with Jim Carrey and director Michel Gondry; Inside the mind of director Michel Gondry; Anatomy of a scene: Saratoga avenue; A conversation with Kate Winslet and director Michel Gondry; Feature commentary with director Michel Gondry and writer Charlie Kaufman; The polyphonic spree "Light & Day" music video; Lacuna informercial

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Jim Carrey	Joel Barish
Kate Winslet	Clementine Kruczynski
Tom Wilkinson	Dr. Howard Mierzwiak
Mark Ruffalo	Stan
Kirsten Dunst	Mary
Elijah Wood	Patrick
Jane Adams	Carrie
David Cross	Rob
Deirdre O'Connell	Hollis
Debbon Ayer	Joel's Mother
Thomas Jay Ryan	Frank
Gerry Robert Byrne	Train Conductor
Brian Price	Young Bully
Amir Ali Said	Young Bully
Paul Litowsky	Young Bully
Josh Flitter	Young Bully
Lola Daehler	Young Clementine
Ryan Whitney	Young Joel

Technical Credits

Pierre Bismuth

Charlie Kaufman

Michel Gondry	Director,Original Story
Peter Agliata	Camera Operator
Danny Aiello	Stunts
Billy Anagnos	Stunts
Steve Bartek	Musical Arrangement
Thomas Belson	Sound/Sound Designer
Georges Bermann	Executive Producer
Mark Bero	Special Effects
Pierre Bismuth	Original Story,Screenwriter
Ron Von Blomberg	Set Decoration/Design
Anthony Bregman	Producer
Jon Brion	Score Composer
David L. Bushell	Executive Producer
Blythe Cappello	Casting
E.J. Evans	Stunts
John Favre	Stunts
Linda Fields	Associate Producer
Stephanie Finochio	Stunts
Eugene Gearty	Sound/Sound Designer
Steve Golin	Producer
Peter Gordon	Musical Arrangement
Michael Hausman	Asst. Director
James Haygood	Editor
Cort Hessler	Stunts
Melissa Fields Hill	Associate Producer
Michael A. Jackman	Associate Producer
Charlie Kaufman	Executive Producer,Original Story,Screenwriter
Ellen Kuras	Cinematographer
Mlanie Larue	Casting
Pierre-Simon Lebrun-Caput	Musical Arrangement
Dan Leigh	Production Designer
Stéphane Loiselle	Casting
Artie Malesci	Stunts
Jeanne MCarthy	Casting
Jeanne McCarthy	Casting
Thomas Nelson	Sound Mixer
Chris Norr	Camera Operator
Valdís Óskarsdóttir	Editor
David Page	Costumes/Costume Designer
Peewee Piemonte	Stunts
Stephen Pope	Stunts
Mike Russo	Stunts
Mark Schmidt	Camera Operator
Edgardo Simone	Musical Arrangement
David Stein	Art Director
Melissa Toth	Costumes/Costume Designer
Thomas Viviano	Special Effects
Noriko Watanabe	Makeup
Allen Weisinger	Makeup
Glenn Williamson	Executive Producer
Paul Zucker	Editor

Editorial Reviews

It's not surprising that one of 2004’s best films fell through the cracks on its theatrical release. It is a tough sell: too oblique and serious for the Jim Carrey fans who propelled Bruce Almighty to blockbuster success, too freighted with Carrey’s goofball butt-talking baggage to lure in art house denizens. Yet, if they give it a chance, it's hard to imagine anyone in either camp failing to enjoy this funny, thoughtful meditation on true love, obsession, and destiny from the combined genius of screenwriter Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich) and music-video auteur Michel Gondry. Carrey plays Joel Barish, a quiet, sensitive guy who finds out his emotional, free-spirited girlfriend, Clementine (Kate Winslet), has undergone a procedure to entirely erase him from her memory. Heartbroken and spiteful, Joel visits Dr. Mierzwiak (Tom Wilkinson) and demands to have the same procedure done to him. With Joel sedated and hooked up to a computer, Mierzwiak's assistants (Mark Ruffalo, Elijah Wood, and Kirsten Dunst) begin zapping away the memories of Joel and Clementine's relationship, one by one. Aware of the procedure while it's happening, Joel relives his relationship with Clementine and realizes he doesn't want to forget. His attempts to hide Clementine in the deeper recesses of his psyche provide endless opportunities for Gondry to show off his astounding visual flair. Eschewing computer-generated gimmickry, Gondy uses old-fashioned camera tricks -- forced perspective, rear projection, miniatures -- to depict Joel's memories as they decay around him. It may take a second viewing to really appreciate all that's going on. But all this eye candy would be nothing without the brilliant script from Kaufman that adds genuine heart to his already established meta-humor abilities. Winslet is as good as we've come to expect, but Carrey's nuanced, subdued performance will be a surprise to almost everyone. He's got a future in drama -- if his fans will stand for it. This is not a perfect film. It's at times too arty for its own good, and a crucial subplot involving Dr. Mierzwiak and his crew should have been given more attention. These are minor quibbles, though. Flaws and all, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is an unforgettable cinematic experience.

Barnes & Noble - Bill Pearis

At once scathingly unsentimental and thrillingly romantic, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is the perfect date movie for smart couples. The film offers further evidence of screenwriter Charlie Kaufman's amazing talent for generating intense emotional investment from seemingly absurd situations, and visual fantasist Michel Gondry shows here (as he failed to do in his first collaboration with Kaufman, Human Nature) that he is the perfect director to bring the screenwriter's brilliant, twisted, solipsistic vision to life. Gondry's visual inventiveness matches Kaufman's enjoyably offbeat conceit. In the film's jaw-dropping centerpiece, Gondry and Kaufman literally deconstruct the typical romantic comedy "falling in love" montage, as the technicians of Lacuna work on Joel's (Jim Carrey) brain, erasing the high and low points of his relationship with Clementine (Kate Winslet) as fast as he can remember them. While there's a surface similarity here to the chase through John Malkovich's subconscious in Being John Malkovich, the emotional stakes here are higher, as Joel has a change of heart during the procedure, and, aided by his own mind's version of Clementine, frantically tries to preserve a memory of her, eventually going to comically desperate lengths. Gondry surprises us again and again with the images he conjures from Kaufman's labyrinthine script. In Human Nature, it often seemed as though the filmmakers were holding the bizarre characters up to ridicule, but Eternal Sunshine is, at its core, generous and humane. We can't help but empathize with Joel's yearning or fall for Clementine's passion and confusion. The film is so generously overstuffed with ideas and jokes that it demands repeat viewing. Capturing the joys and pains of romantic obsession as few filmmakers have before, Gondry and Kaufman have come up with a masterpiece.

All Movie Guide - Josh Ralske

Watching Eternal Sunshine, you don't just watch a love story -- you fall in love with what love really is.

Entertainment Weekly - Owen Gleiberman

This is the best movie I've seen in a decade. For once it's no hyperbole to say, "Unforgettable!"

Slate - David Edelstein

A masterpiece? Probably. Ingenious? Absolutely! Unforgettable? I'll see you at the 10th-year anniversary.

Daily News - Jack Mathews

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