![]() As the memories are lost, it is revealed that the loss is also one of identity. Their first relationship is concurrently revealed in reverse through Joel’s memories, hinting at the fate that may await their relationship yet again. The pain of the break-up forced the characters to each enlist the services of Lacuna Inc., an experimental medical practice specializing in the erasure of memories, in hopes of relief and closure, for as an overarching character declares, quoting Nietzsche, “blessed are the forgetful, for they get the better even of their blunders.”Ĭontrarily, Joel and Clementine fall for one another for a second time. Unbeknownst to them, Joel, an over-analyzing, rational, introvert and Clementine, who is the spontaneous, frightfully aggressive, curious, and childlike personification of the human subconscious, were once lovers in a tumultuous relationship that ended bitterly and violently. Within this chronicle, two parallel narratives take place the first is that of the meeting of two radically different personalities that comprise the protagonists, and the second is that of their forgotten meeting two years earlier, revealed through a series of memories that are in the process of being destroyed. ![]() The opening credits, too, do not appear until 20 minutes into the film, doing so quickly before dissipating, as in a dream or memory. The chronicle is presented in a nonlinear, nearly dream-like sequence, completely to the viewer’s comprehension. ![]() The film is presented not as a portrayal of a series of events, but as a pseudo-Freudian inquiry into human character and internal revolt.Įternal Sunshine follows the lives of two strangers after a chance encounter, though the term follow is used quite loosely, and the matter of chance comes to attest otherwise. As such, it encompasses all that Surrealists sought to convey through their work: violent sexual desire, fear and repulsion, the subversive, and above all, the convulsive. By the same token, the film does not fall within the parameters of a single genre, but is simultaneously science fiction, psychological thriller, and romantic comedy. Though not a Surrealist film, Eternal Sunshine does present a surreal exploration of perception, memory, desire and the subconscious and borrows from Surrealist cinema in its use of fragmented narrative and psychotropic cinematography. Michel Gondry’s 2004 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a contemporary query into the human condition. The world forgetting, by the world forgot.Įach pray’r accepted, and each wish resign’d.” -Alexander Pope “How happy is the blameless vestal’s lot!
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