Projects » Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Production Year: 2004
Directed by: Michel Gondry
Genre: Drama / Romance / Sci-Fi
Tagline: Would you erase me?
Rating: 8.6/10 (53,732 votes)
Runtime: 108 min
Country: USA/Canada
Language: English
Certification: Argentina:13 / Australia:M / Brazil:14 / Canada:14A (British Columbia/Ontario) / Canada:G (Québec) / Chile:TE (+7) / Finland:K-11 / France:U / Germany:12 / Hong Kong:IIB / Netherlands:AL / New Zealand:M / Norway:11 / Peru:PT / Philippines:R-13 / Singapore:NC-16 / Spain:13 / Sweden:11 / Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) / Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) / Switzerland:16 (canton of Zurich) / UK:15 / USA:R

Plot Outline: A couple (Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet) undergo a procedure to erase each other from their memories when their relationship turns sour, but it is only through the process of loss that they discover what they had to begin with.

Awards

Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind won an Oscar and received another 30 wins and 43 nominations

Academy Awards, USA 2005
WON - Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen, Charlie Kaufman, Michel Gondry, Pierre Bismuth.
Nominated - Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role, Kate Winslet.

Cast

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

Trivia

The title is quoted from the poem Eloisa to Abelard by Alexander Pope (1688-1744). This poem was used in Charlie Kaufman's earlier project Being John Malkovich (1999).
Before Jim Carrey expressed interest in playing Joel, Nicolas Cage was considered for the role.
The original script featured a cut beginning and ending sequence that took place in the future. In the end, an older Clementine comes in to have the procedure done and a look at her screen shows that she's had the procedure done multiple times and all of them involved Joel. At the very end of the script, an older Joel calls Clementine to ask why she hasn't called, but the technicians performing the procedure erase his message. Other cuts in the original script include a montage of memories people wanted erased, including a soldier seeing his dead friend on a battlefield and a girl who was raped at a young age.
The memory-erasing company, Lacuna Inc., takes its name from the Latin word meaning a cavity, hollow, or dip, especially a pool or pond. Transfiguratively, lacuna comes to mean a gap, deficiency, or loss. The term "lacunar infarct" refers to a stroke that involves a small area of the brain responsible for a specific function, or ever a specific memory. Additionally, in papyrology (the study of ancient manuscripts) a lacuna is a hole where part of the text is missing, and which can sometimes be re-constructed.
The idea was brought to Michel Gondry by his friend the artist Pierre Bismuth who suggested, "You get a card in the mail that says: someone you know has just erased you from their memory..."
A Metro North Commuter Railroad train from the New Haven line (red striped) doubled for the Long Island Railroad (which are blue striped).
When Clementine and Joel are in the Montauk beach house, Clementine finds an envelope that says David and Ruth Laskin. David and Ruth are the first names of Kate Winslet and Jim Carrey's assistants.
All of the train shots were shot onboard a real, moving, train.
The opening credits appear 18 minutes into the film, at the end of the first reel.
The voice whispering Montauk in the movie is actually a combination of Kate Winslet's voice echoing itself, and the voice of a worker at the production company Focus Features. Apparently, the young lady was asked to do a quick voice-over, before Winslet arrived, and it was kept in the film.
The movie is based on the following quote from an Alexander Pope poem: 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.
Mary's surname does not appear in the credits, but her nameplate on the reception desk at Dr Mierzwiak's practice shows it as Svevo. This very unusual name is clearly a reference to Italian writer Italo Svevo (real name Ettore Schmitz, 1861-1928), who was very interested in the work of Sigmund Freud and is believed to have corresponded with him.
A sub plot involving Joel having a one night stand with his ex-girlfriend Naomi (Ellen Pompeo) was deleted from the final film.
In the original screenplay Charlie Kaufman included a short conversation between Joel (Jim Carrey) and Clementine (Kate Winslet) about the album "Rain Dogs" by Tom Waits during one of the opening scenes on the train. During this conversation Joel says he remembers buying the album and liking it, but he can't remember anything about it. While the dialogue was stripped from the film, during the fast shots of Stan (Mark Ruffalo) showing Joel the items he has brought in that remind him of Clementine a copy of the CD "Rain Dogs" can be seen for just a moment. Also the "blue ruin" reference comes from a lyric on the same album.
Despite the fact that Charlie Kaufman's script and Michel Gondry's visual concepts were closely followed, the actors were allowed many chances to improvise. Elijah Wood and Mark Ruffalo improvised extensively, and much of the dialog between Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet resulted from videotaped rehearsal sessions during which the two actors became close by sharing tales of their real life relationships and heartbreaks.
The computer used during the procedure is actually an Amstrad PPC (Portable Personal Computer) from the early 1990s.
The scene where Joel and Clementine watch the circus go through the streets was made up on the spot, as the film crew and cast happened to be working nearby and Michel Gondry decided it could work well in the film. The part where Clementine disappears suddenly is one of Gondry's favorite moments of the film, as Jim Carrey didn't know Kate Winslet was going to disappear and Gondry likes it because Carrey's face appears so saddened. When the sound blanks out in the final film, Carrey is actually saying "Kate?".
A lacuna (also spelled lacune or lacunae) is a small scar in the brain left behind by a tiny stroke or seizure, perhaps a reference to the "brain damage" that is the procedure.
Virtually all of the most bizarre and fascinating scenes in this movie were created with old fashioned camera, editing, lighting and prop/set tricks. The use of digital effects was very limited. The striking kitchen scene with Joel as a child was created with an elaborate forced perspective set-up similar to some used by Peter Jackson in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
The woman with the distorted face in Dr. Mierzwiak's office is Ellen Kuras, the film's director of photography.
Reporters tried to interview Jim Carrey as the unplanned scene with Joel and Clementine at the street parade was being filmed. If you listen closely, you can hear somebody shout "Speak to me!" at Jim Carrey.
When the Stan (Mark Ruffalo) scares Mary (Kirsten Dunst), director Michel Gondry asked Mark to hide at a different spot each take to actually scare her.
A sex scene with Mark Ruffalo and Kirsten Dunst was shot but was cut due to length.
Michel Gondry had a unique system of controlling his camera operators while shooting by use of a headset for Michel and earpieces for the two operators. He would speak to them (in french) while cameras were rolling and the actors were doing their parts, so Gondry could have a say on all angles no matter where the actors were. This results in a large degree of spontaneity, since the actors could decide while in character whether to have an entire conversation sitting on a couch or get up and walk to a window. Kate Winslet said that she felt this freedom enhanced her performance, and that sometimes they would do different takes of the same scene completely differently, based purely on gut feelings for what the characters might have done.

Goofs

Crew or equipment visible: When Clementine and Joel see each other again at the diner near the beginning of the movie, the shadow of the camera is visible off to the left.
Revealing mistakes: Members of the public can be seen waving to the camera while Joel is driving in his car.
Continuity: During the "operation", Mary passes a joint to Stan. In the next shot, Mary has the joint again.
Continuity: Mary's hair changes from "windswept" (long shots) to neat (close-up) and back again when talking to Howard outside Joel's apartment, after Howard's wife catches them together and drives off.
Revealing mistakes: When Clementine goes to Joel's building foyer, and meets Joel's neighbor (the "McRomance" guy), the actor waiting to walk into the scene is reflected in the door.
Crew or equipment visible: When Clem gets out of the car to get her toothbrush, a mic pack is clearly visible under her shirt.
Errors in geography: When Joel is waiting for Clem to get her toothbrush early in the movie, the shot pans back to reveal a street sign which is obviously a New York City sign, which would not appear in Rockville Center, which is on Long Island.

Quotes

Patrick: You know that girl we did last week? The one with the potatoes.
Stan: That girl? Yeah, that's this guy's girl.
Patrick: Yeah.
Stan: Right... Was. Took care of that.
Patrick: Well uh, I kind of fell in love with her that night.
Stan: What? You little fuck!
Patrick: What?
Stan: She was unconscious, man.
Patrick: Well, she was beautiful and... I stole a pair of her panties as well.
Stan: Jesus!
Patrick: What? It's not like - I mean they were clean and all.
Stan: Don't tell me this stuff! I don't wanna hear this shit!

Patrick: "Mary hates me. I've never been popular with the ladies."
Stan: "Maybe if you stopped stealing their panties."