“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” explores the complex role memory plays in human relationships. The film was directed by Michel Gondry, written by Charlie Kaufmann, and premiered in 2004. It stars Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet in the lead roles playing Joel and Clementine. Joel is an introvert who enters a two-year relationship with Clementine before erasing his memories of her after the breakup and after Clementine erases her own memories of him. Clementine is an extroverted girl Joel meets on the train and she works at a bookstore that he frequents. Clementine is the embodiment of the ‘Manic Pixie Dream Girl’ archetype seen in modern media, a girl who is eccentric and free spirited (and furthers her counterpart’s character development in the story), something that attracts Joel to her.  Gondry creates a unique look using mise-en-scene, colour palettes and overall style which can be used to analyse the mood and feel created in the film and its purpose.

The mood board displays different images from the film as well as an image of the surrealist painting ‘The Lovers II’ by Rene Magritte, 1928. It is included in the mood board due to fitting well into the overall colour palette and the nature of the painting can be used to further interpret the film. The different muted hues of blue and soft lighting convey emotions of melancholy, nostalgia and longing a well as creating a dream-like atmosphere, which is also present through the mise-en-scene in the film. The relationship between Joel and Clementine is laid out throughout the film are out of order as the scenes are segmented alluding to how unreliable memory can be and how it can distort our reality. The chronology of their relationship is time-stamped by the change of Clementine’s hair as we go through Joel’s memories of her; when they meet Clementine’s hair is green, the dye being called “green revolution”, as they meet in spring perhaps symbolising the growth of their relationship. When they are dating Clementine’s hair is red, “red menace” as the dye is called, notes how warm and passionate their love was during the summer and the good periods of their relationship. During their rough patch her hair is orange, dyed in the colour “agent orange”, mirrors the autumn where the leaves fall and the trees die, essentially their desire in the relationship fading away as they start to fight more. During their reunion in the winter (after they have broken up and erased their memories of each other), Clementines hair is dyed blue with the dye being named “blue ruin” noting the hardship that their relationship has endured so far and as they agree to try again could also foreshadow them breaking up again. The colours and dye names give more insight into Clementine’s personality and perhaps tell her perspective as we watch the film from Joel’s point of view. If you take away the colours from the names of the dyes you’re left with revolution, menace, agent, and ruin; revealing her humanity, her lack of agency in her relationship with Patrick as he took advantage of the fact he was aware of her memories after she erased them and used that to begin a relationship with her and may also note the other side of the ‘Manic Pixie Dream Girl’ trope ,which Clementine embodies, with its connection to mental illness. Mary Jane Coppock explains:

“The MPDG displays all the idealized characteristics of a manic episode: the euphoria, borderline delusional outlook on life, and incredibly sociable and charming personality; she’s fickle and seems to change her mind constantly but is painted as almost endearingly dreamlike. Her supporting-character purpose is to motivate the male protagonist by giving him a thirst for life or to help him on his hero’s journey while she either needs rescuing or steps aside. In essence, the MPDG exists not for herself, and not as an independent, self-driven entity”.

Now although Clementine subverts this mostly with her self-awareness, however Joel says to her in one of his memories of her “I still thought you were going to save my life” suggesting how he needed Clementine on his journey to self-actualisation. In the original script by Kaufmann, Clementine was more of the focus rather than Joel with the script starting out with an older Clementine going back to the hospital to get her memories erased but it’s made aware very quickly that is not her first time, and she may have gotten her memory erased multiple times although this time she has a manuscript with the title mirroring the title of the film. In this version we see more of Clementine’s alcoholism which could affect her state of mind as well as her relationship with Joel and how many times she subsequently has him erased from her memory. This suggests how their relationship is a never-ending cycle of erasing their memories and then meeting and starting a relationship again deep into old age and then breaking up and doing it all over again. This is also alluded to in the film as the ending suggests a loop into the beginning where they are both together on the beach as that’s where they first meet and now that’s where they go after their reconciliation at the end.

Reverting to the painting ‘The Lovers II’, it depicts two lovers enshrouded by cloths as they try to kiss each other, “transforming an act of passion into one of isolation and frustration” which could serve as Joel and Clementine during the breakdown of their relationship as they felt frustrated with one another and isolated themselves away from each other leading them to erase their memories in order to move on rather than working through their emotions and working the past the pain to heal and learn something about themselves. This is like the film not only in its colour palette but also in the surreal imagery depicted that adds to the dream like feel of the film. There are a lot of blues and greys in the mood board and there are two scenes featured in the mood-board that take place on the frozen Charles River, one where there is a crack by Clementine and another where they are running through his memories to fight the erasure of them as he changed his mind of erasing her. The crack could symbolise the cracks in their psyches and their relationship that are never truly resolved as they avoid doing the work to improve and instead break up, erase their memories etc. They can never deepen their relationship or ‘have a family’ in the future as Clementine desires due to lack of communication.

The music also plays a part in creating the atmosphere of the film and adding to the melancholy mood that has been set. Gondry is also a music video director outside of film making which reflects in the musical score for this film and may suggest why some scenes look like they are part of a music video; different genres are explored but still manage to fit with the overall film and add to the atmosphere. Some genres included are Bollywood, punk, children’s songs, pop and etc; but somehow, they all just fit so well. For example, when Joel and Clem meet in her apartment, a recording of Bollywood music switches between male and female vocalists, suggesting star-crossed lovers. As Joel loses his memories, the unusual, disjointed sounds echo in the instrumental arrangements made by the film’s composer, Jon Brion, relating to Joel’s now dislocated memory and how he tries to figure out the missing pieces after the procedure and whilst listening to the tape sent to him by Mary, the secretary. Repetition is used a lot in the film and as well as in Gondry’s music videos but in the film, it feels something new each time. “Three Joels appear simultaneously during Wozniak’s first mapping of Joel’s memories, for example, the sound of a record scratching, which reappears throughout the film, further cues us that we are stuck in repeat.” Even the repetition of Joel and Clementine’s first conversation happens but it’s presented as something new each time as they are continuously drawn to each other.

In the mood board, the only colour that stands out is orange that was shown in the original poster of the film but also in her hair and there is also a little bit of colour like it in Magritte’s painting suggesting the hope we have towards the end for Joel and Clementine’s rekindled love. This film is a beautiful love story to some of how Joel and Clementine are destined for each other and will always find each other regardless of them not having their memories however, to others it’s a tale of two people who may not be the best for each other and what they have can turn toxic very fast leading them to be in an on and off cycle with each other for the rest of their lives.