VIDEO ESSAY - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - The Sad Truth (DETAILED ANALYSIS)
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 8 сен 2024
- In this video I explain Eternal Sunshine of the spotless mind, presenting a film essay which acts as an analysis of the truth behind this film.
In my first film essay I am discussing Michael Gondry's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, written by Charlie Kaufman and starring Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet. In this video I discuss what I believe to be an explanation of the philosophy behind the story, and reveal the sad (yet bitter-sweet) truth behind the movie (in my opinion).
The Film Essay is a channel dedicated to making video essays on film, both on specific films and overviews of genres, directors, actors and cinematic techniques, with the aim of bringing everyone a little closer to truly understanding the medium, and gaining an appreciation and respect for it along the way.
Please consider subscribing and liking the video, it helps me out a lot.
Please comment with any thoughts you have on the video, and feel free to disagree! I also welcome any suggestions for upcoming videos.
If you liked the video, please consider taking a look at my recent video analysing how Quentin Tarantino uses tension as a narrative tool in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood! I feel like my editing has come a long way, and would really appreciate it if people would give it a watch! ruclips.net/video/0cLUy4bkoKM/видео.html
Been re-watching and showing this video to everyone who I forced to watch the movie. Great stuff and your new video is amazing as well. Thank you!
Yeah !
@@notinvestopedia5104 thank you so much for your comment - it means a lot that you enjoyed my video and share it with friends!
A concise and well conveyed point of view on a cult classic. A very good first film analysis. Not bad at all.
instablaster
I never understood why this film was marketed as a comedy. Sure, there are some comical moments, but I find this to be a very serious, thoughtful film yet the trailers marketed this as a typical Jim Carey comedy.
I think the subversion of expectations for the film makes it all the more unique of an experience if you went into it thinking it's a comedy.
Im hoping to become a screenwriter when I'm older so I've started this new thing where I read scripts before watching the movie if i can find them online. When reading the script multiple scenes played as comedies in the movie (the train scene) were alot more uncomfortable and kind of depressing. Also, many parts were alot darker. In the original scrip you find out mary had actually aborted howards child and couldnt forget the baby. That was really the deciding factor for her procedure but it was cut.
So i guess im saying i agree. I was very suprised to find out this was supposed to be a "comedy drama"
@@novagray4143 Wow thanks - where do you find scripts?
I agree . it is a beautiful yet devastating movie.
This movie hurts my heart.
Danna Razo yeah it mess me up big time
how come i find it heart warming, whats more honest and meaningful than accepting that its not gonna nessaseraly be happily ever after but wanting to do it anyway because the memory themselves are special.
expressrobkill but they don’t keep their memories. That’s what makes it so incredibly sad for me. That not even the good memories weigh out the pain of the break up. I like that they get back together even tho they know the relationship will fail. I just hope the second time they won’t have the chance to do it again.
M. - Sophie Franke well thats kind of the point of the movie, its like its better to have the bad memory’s and feelings so you can have the good feelings and memorys, theres always good with the bad but those memory’s are precious.
Thank you. That is exactly my feelings whenever I see this movie: not heartbroken, but with a aching heart.
I watch it every valentine. All by my self.
Come to salty spitoon please...
:D ahhhh I just watched it this valentines day!!! Today! haha valentines day 2020 woop woop!
I watched it then and I watched it again last night
watch butterfly effect
Don't forget a powerful line from the movie, "Valentine's day 2004, Today is a holiday invented by greeting card companies to make people feel like crap."
my all time favorite movie. I never thought of it as being a sad or depressing. I just believed that joel and clem were soulmates and the fact that they erased each other didn't really matter because they would always fall in love again. its like having a favorite song and you listen to it over and over, then yrs pass and you haven't heard it, but then u discover it again and you fall in love with it the same way as before. joel and clem are destined to be together. its like reincarnation. you keep coming back until you get it right.
same 😍
You just gave me the idea of soul mate through music...
They will never get right, that is the sad thing.
They’re soulmates who have to repeatedly forget each other to remain in love.
Wow this was really cute!! I love the reincarnation part
probably one of the best films of all time, and my personal favorite
Lol no
One of my favorites too
Phil Thomas There’s no ‘probably’ about it
@@MrTroyman8 Damn Right.
One of the best films of all time, and my personal favorite*
This movie is actually very Nietzschean. It illustrates his idea of 'eternal reoccurrence' within the context of a romantic relationship.
"For better or for worse", as they say; with all the joy & pain, bliss & belligerence, tenderness & resentment.
With the obvious exception of abusive relationships, a true and ever lasting relationship acknowledges all the hopeless imperfections and transcends them by choosing to love anyway. In a sense, the mind loves again and again as it becomes spotless again and again; forgetting and thus becoming free from all past hurts & resentments.
Wow, your comment is just brilliant. Had to take a deep breath and keep the tears in.
Holy shit this comment is incredible
I mean yes, they even mentioned a quote from Beyond good and evil
Amor Fati :)
How is that uniquey nitchzean though? For better or for worse sounds more like a vow you make when you get married "In sickness and in health, in wealth and in poverty..."
I think you missed some very salient points: By the end, Joel has become a changed man - which gives us hope that the relationship will work this time. By hiding Clem in his most embarrassing and tramatic memories, he has (by accident) changed how he approaches life - hence his personality - to become less fearful and less worried about how others see him. So, by the end of the film - Joel has transformed into becoming a stronger version of himself who should be able to tolerate Clem's craziness.
100% THIS
His love for Clementine was so strong it forced him to face and reconcile with his deep inadequacies that were holding him back. I just rewatched and realized this and it is so clear to me now. It wasn't even Joel that came up with the idea to go to his really dark places either, it was (his mental imagine of) Clementine pushing him. The symbolism being you don't need a doctor wiping your brain, but someone who will push you to be better, to face your fears while being there supporting you with love and understanding while you do it.
Yeah , he did changed into a "nicer person". In there first encounter he mocked her name and the next time he just denied so.
or he actually doin this in a loop because thats how he understands it
Clem also left when she heard his hurtful tape at the end. She didn't stay and get a big argument, she just removed herself and that's progress
I knew a girl once a long time ago
She loved me and I loved her
She moved away but I never forgot her
The last night we ever spent together was on the beach in the dark much like the crumbling house scene with Joel and Clementine
I still love her and probably always will
This film makes me think of her
This movie made me remember my ex too, I don't think I'll ever forget her.
You can’t reach out?!
@Cheyenne Archambeault not the same thing dipship. You were junkies. They weren't. Dont ruin such a masterpiece.
@@johnloza2198 don't be like that
Women's move on easily. Men's not.
I watched this film immediately after watching The Truman Show. It blew my mind. Beautiful :)
***** I agree :) out of one simulated world & into another.
Papa Burgundy ..... yes because Truman had the same childhood memories as Joel right..? Lol try again
@@Nondualitty Maybe an alternate universe of Truman? The one where he realizes it's a show but he plays along (kinda) and decides he wants to erase a character from one of the episodes but realizes that it's not really his show so he's not in power to do that, even if he tries. And if he does try then it will hurt even more.
Art Forevrr lol ya we’ll go with that
same!!!! on my jim carrey’s marathon
This is an interesting theory, and I can see where you're getting these hints from. However, I think the dissolution of Lacuna Inc after the relationship explored between Mary and Dr. Mierzwiak prohibits this loop from reoccurring, as Kaufman and Gondry show that these past memories, however painful, are essential to helping us grow, and should not be erased.
Note the ending though as in the very last scene - as they run along the beach it cuts 3 times and they run again in the same position. Kinda as if it repeats again and again. Watch the scene and let me know what you think :))
+The Film Essay At the end, I understood Joel's "Okay" to mean "Then let's not get together". Then in trying to understand the repeating last shot, I thought it was the only memory he somehow managed to hold on to from their original relationship.
I've understood the "Okay" more like a "That's a risk I'm willing to take" accepting that a relationship will not be "Eternal Sunshine" or "spotless" and that's okay.
Guess there are multiple ways to interpret the movie, all of them are beautiful (although some are sad).
I think that just like music, its left up to interpretation and each individuals interpretation of it is true. Thats why I dont watch many analysis of movies or music as I have made my own idea and connection to the meaning. But this video was good.
Through my multiple watchings of this movie, I've always interpreted the whole thing a bit more symbolically, and I'd say that you would need to go beyond the scope of just the movie and its story to make a full interpretation, whatever that may be, as with Kaufman's other work (the most literal example would probably be Adaptation).
I see it as a painful reminder and/or reaffirmation of the core themes of... uh. Wow, it's so much one could say here, but I'll go with the imperfection of love and romantic relationships. The pain of loneliness and how difficult it can be to find someone you TRULY connect with, and when you do, it's unlikely to be a perfect relationship, but because the alternative is to be alone or settle for a better-functioning but ultimately less fulfilling relationship, you are still likely to desperately try to achieve "true" happiness, whatever that even means, by pursuing the avenue which has the greatest potential all the while knowing that it will probably not work out. Inevitably, you fall out, which still leaves you in the mud of suboptimal choices, and given that memory erasure was a thing, the loop in the movie seems entirely likely. In shorter terms, I see it as a sad meditation on how the irrational nature of love can drive us to self-destructive behaviour, while still being the best option. It sounds very sterile when put like that, but I truly believe this to be a very universal thing; the relationships I've been most passionate about have consistently been doomed from the start. I've found myself trying to rationalize those failings as none of us in the relationship in question really being "right" for one another, that we subsequently found objectively "better" partners in better-functioning relationships, but really, that is just me trying to make myself feel better. It just comes down to statistics; you are just so unlikely to find someone you are incredibly in-tune with romantically who simultaneously is compatible on a more pragmatic level. If you think you've managed to find someone like that, it is my firm belief that either you're *insanely* lucky, but more likely that you're deceiving yourself, or you've never come across someone like that to begin with and therefore have no conception of the high point of how you could potentially feel about a person. It's the kind of person you just will never, ever forget about. That kind of "destined" love, which definitely isn't a thing, but which our bodies have the capability of simulating by arbitrarily inflicting an incredibly strong romantic response, for no apparent reason.
I enjoy watching romantic movies in general, because they make me feel good. They usually depict people who seem to come together very naturally, sometimes while being opposed to the very notion at the start of things. They make compromise seem attractive and functional. But anytime I rewatch this movie I am reminded that they are fantasies. Strong, long-time love is more often than not messy, because love is not rational nor pragmatic; it does not leave room for compromise. It just happens to you. To understand it, it helps to keep in mind its evolutionary role: to make you produce offspring. But that doesn't really change much, either.
They have their own tapes of what they felt was wrong with each other, Joel will learn to open up more to clementine and she will learn to be more forgiving or even speak to Joel about his quiet and reserved nature. It will work out 💪
Robert Benitez finally someone who got it. The problems were in themselves not changing towards the other and deleting them didnt help them from finding eachother again.
Yes. I think at the end when Clementine told Joel that he will become and asshole and she will get frustrated and bored with him, and Joel replying Okay which was repeated by clementine. I think in that moment both agreed to accept each other for who they really are. I cant say whether they will be able to work it out or not, but im sure that it is not the point.
Unfortunately not. Even when you know the drawbacks in someone else's personality beforehand, the incompatibility between you two is enough to bring the relationship down. In the original script, they both have erased each other multiple times.
fady wadie
I understand what you're saying, and the end of the movie even shows the snow clip three times over insinuating they erased each other three times over those two years before the last event (and dissolution of the company occurred).
However, I think their biggest problem with the first three times was that they didn't ever communicate their incompatibilities openly and healthily. They just erased one another because it was convenient and Clem is impulsive.
Without the option to erase each other, and with the knowledge of their history now, who's to say they don't randomly mutate this time around? I love that the end of the film is ambiguous, and the optimist in me would like to believe that because their meeting this time was different (they acknowledge from the *start* that they will have some problems) that it'll be a different kind of relationship now. Their problem in the other three times was that they organically found the problems out over and over again. This time, they knew from the START and could have foresight into at least trying to fix the problems as they happen instead of letting resentment fester naturally over time like the other three attempts.
That’s some hopeful thinking ma man. I also thought of the same but my pessimistic side says unlikely
i think joel and clementine are 2 insecure and needy people. the story is not about them but the nature of insecure emotional people who need someone else to love them to find validation in their existence.. the people who cant find their own happiness but need someone else to provide it for them. joel and clementine could be replaced by anybody and the story is about breaks ups and how the the nature of insecurity just keeps us in the same loop of relationship breakup pain relationship breakup pain.. but within that cycle... when we start all over, right in the beginning, before it turns to shit..there is a moment of true happiness. and just for that we keep doing it over and over again
Great comment
I think its about 2 people coming to terms with being drawn together but shouldn't be together. Clementine negatively reenforces Joel's sharing of his feelings (so he shuts down) he inwardly writes in his book instead of externally sharing his feelings. Now since the movie is told thru Joels perspective we know less about Clemetine, and that what we do know is mostly thru Joels "lens". But Joel is passive aggressive and that flys in direct conflict with Clemetines overt and direct nature. So Clems negative reenforcement vs joels passive aggressiveness is incompatible... yet they are drawn together. Joels fights to retain his memory of Clem, whatever he can.... Clems memory is reconnected by Patrick using Joels notebook to suduce her, reconnecting her memories and sending her searching to fill the void Patrick creates.. and having reconnected some of those memory pathways, draws her back to Joel. In the end Clem admits her shortcomings in a relationship... and Joels responds with simply "OK". Accepting, once again, the challenge of being with Clem. In the end, Clem needs someone that is strong enough to accept her. And Joel, having fought with his entire being to retain just a small shred of his feelings for Clem... is now strong enough to accept her. The story is Joels journey to accept Clem entirely.
Exactly
You just summed up my whole life
You should have made the video, i was thinking something similar but you said it perfectly. Its just about being stuck in that bad relationship, where you and the person your dating are enabling each other , rather then growing with each other. Dating your security blanket, and always being more attracted to someone like that, because your unable to fix your own problems, or just to lazy or arrogant to so anything about it, ir depressed maybe. Idk
my comfort movie... for 13 years.... i never get tired.... and will never be...
Hai Er this movie is such a personal comfort for me too. It’s so real and raw and beautiful. It’s real relationships and acceptance of someone’s flaws and worst traits because you love them. I see so much of myself in both characters. I can never not cry watching this movie, listening to the music, or seeing things about it.
I love you.
The future of their relationship depends on whether anything has changed (change your heart). Joel says "I wish I'd stayed" and actually does in his dream and says "I love you" at which time Clementine says, "meet me in Montauk". Those words gave me the biggest case of "chills down the spine" ever! What an incredible moment of mutual redemption!! Love is tough and eminently worth fighting for.
Throughout the dream scenes, Joel and Clementine fight together to recover their memories of each other with everything they have because they are each other's best chance to get it right - to become spotless. The script never finishes singing the words of the song, "Clementine" which, of course are, "You are lost and gone forever, dreadful sorry Clementine".
I would suspect (hope?) that their second time around is likely to be founded on the revelations that came to them in their collective dreams and the smudged spots of their immaturity are likely to be cleansed. The choice of the song, "Change your Heart" is not a trivial end-credits filler. OK? OK.
Brilliant. I wholeheartedly agree.
Yess! Ooh and change your heart too... "I need your lovin' like the sunshine..." How much of the movie and really of Joel and Clem's relationship was spent acting like they didn't need each other? Like the two of them meeting eachother and later forming a relationship was not completely integral into shaping them into who they became?
It did stick out to me how the people in the movie who didn't pursue the person they liked were actually the ones pursued by them. It's a classic push-pull relationship dynamic. Joel and Clem, both times they met, Clem came onto him. She becomes this fantasy, just like Clem said, something to be pursued, but then once he actually has her, the mystique is gone. He then runs away by becomng emotionally closed off. The honeymoon phase ends and they start to take each other for granted, as the value they each provide to eachother is lost in a cacophony of their own projections, insecurities, and ultimately, their limited perspectives.
When kirsten dunst's character comes on to and acknowledges how she feels for the doctor guy, he rejects her efforts, though it turns out there was also a time where they had been together and it still ended in him needing to walk away even though she was very open about how much she loved him.
Wanting someone so badly is so vulnerable that eventually when life calls the other person in a seperate direction it's easy to become hurt, torn, and possibly even broken by their departure, even if departing is necessary (because of incompatibilities, or even because of societal necessity as was the case with the secretary's affair with the doctor who had a wife and kids).
Either way it's almost a matter of time before a relationship becomes somewhat imbalanced. You can't stay in the honeymoon, togetherness stage forever; eventually there comes a time where each person in a relationship needs to have their own life outside of it. We can then feel personally rejected or become jealous when the other person is beckoned elsewhere by life itself.
So what do we do? We pretend like we don't care. We become hypercritical. We hide our insecurities beneath an emotional armor that takes the form of pushing the other person away, because at least when we are pushing the other person away their leaving feels like a choice.
But perhaps the better route to take is to be open about how much we really need someone, rather than pretend that we don't need each other. Like Clem telling Joel to 'just go', he ends up doing just that... But as they both find out later, neither of them wanted the other to leave, at all, even at the end of it all.
After the honeymoon stage of the relationship when Joel closes up and becomes emotionally unavailable, it pushes Clem away very much in the same way that she initially pushed him away when telling him to 'just go'. Pushing each other away then becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy in the sense that they both get what they said they wanted... All the while, they reject what their hearts truly want, causing them both a great deal of pain, arguably, more pain than they ever needed to feel, if they had been more open, and radically honest about how they truly felt.
Even if there are clues from the very beginning of a relationship that
things could have gone downhill, as so many of us replay in our minds
when looking back on a relationship that ended up going WAY south, none
of these red flags matter because at the end of the day we really need
love, and the most tangible way we can experience love is from other
humans who are just as broken and just as flawed as ourselves.
Everyone's gotta learn sometime. Ha :)
Tessa Rae well said!
@@tessarae9127 isn't it unhealthy tho? Ignoring red flags, they are red for a reason. Sometimes traumas or insecurities draw people each other and in these cases, they engage in a unhealthy relationship. They can find love in another relationship as well. Why do they have to "fight" for love? Is it "love" in the first place? Im just wondering
@@rose-pz1is If you don't mind me answering: I think it points to the fact that every relationship has ups-and-downs. Having said that, sometimes people don't realize this aspect early on and tend to learn the hard way. Both Joel and Clementine learn the hardest way possible: seeing someone they deeply love being erased from their memory. However, the story is very much about true love, because they tried lying to themselves by erasing memories of their previous relationship, yet their deep innate feelings still lead them back together because it is true love. Clementine was tested as well with Elijah Wood's character trying to lie to her by using Joel's words and gifts. She saw through those lies because she innately knows the difference between Elijah Wood's character and Joel. Again: they both found each other after deleting each other from their memories...that's true love.
i've always interpreted the ending as a better-new beginning- at the very end of the dream sequence in the climax of the movie, Joel undergoes his short-lived epiphany type moment, "i wish i'd stayed..." and knowing that he really did love clementine, despite and even because of the things that initially scared him about her. then, in the last 10 minutes, it's sort of like they were listening to an autopsy of their own relationship- they know what happened, they know what they were thinking in the end, and despite all of that, they decide to do it all again, this time with the knowledge of what could happen and, perhaps, how to avoid it the second time. not to mention the whole underlying theme of how their love for each other permeates reality, like it's sort of beyond the confines of their brains and is more of a universal thing which is really beautiful
To me this movie tells us that, living a happy life is more than just being happy all the time. We need moments of heartbreak and sadness and anger, we need to face adversity to grow and live fulfilling lives. Joel realizes that even though all the sadness will be gone after the procedure, he’ll lose the good times and that’s not worth it for him. The last scene to me represents the loop in a less literal sense. Since they know about the procedure already I don’t believe they will go through it again. They take the risk with this knowledge but understand that when they do breakup they’ll come right back to each other again.
I interpreted the ending as somewhat happy, because they are now prepared of what's gonna come and so have the choice to handle it better than the first time.
It's my favorite story. The way they can erase each other and some how still know where they are and know that THAT is their person. Their happiness and sunshine. I first saw it at a younger age and thought how weird it was, the idea of erasing something bad that happened was such a new idea for me and one night while watching I really questioned myself as to whether I would get the procedure done myself, and I think I would. Not to relive a love that was damaged or to forget an abortion or lost job, but to hopefully not relive the incident. But after thinking about how even after the receptionist was halfway forced to an abortion with a married man and still somehow fell for him subconsciously, it makes you rethink would I really want to relive those moments step for step or to stay where I am, accepting the bad that has happened and living with the memories as if it were a lesson.
This movie is truly amazing, you can watch as someone you find so new and mysterious turn so toxic and isolated. It's scary and beautiful. And if I ever met the man who wrote it, I'm not sure if I'd ever be able to articulate what this had done to me or taught me. That memories, even if they were traumatic and scary, are better lived with than to forget and relive those moments.
In 2005 my high school teacher recommended I watch this film. 15 years later, I finally did. There are layers to this film and perhaps it's best I saw this film later in life. I smile knowing this film was released when I was in high school, it brings back memories of high school even though they're unrelated to the film.
I don't think it's set in stone that Clementine and Joel are doomed to repeat the same cycle. Yes they probably would if they didn't have any help. But since they received those tapes from Mary they have an insight into what went wrong with their relationship so they may try to act differently towards each other to avoid the fate they know will happen if they don't change.
For example now Joel knows that he'll tell Clementine that she uses sex to get people to like her. He says that directly to her and on the tapes. He may try to avoid saying something like that in the future. It's a bit like Back to the Future when Marty warns Doc about the future. They have a warning from the past about their possible future.
+Association of Free People And actually I think they would have eventually forgave each other and get back together, I'm not even sure if they ever officially broke up. They just had a big argument and in the heat of the moment Clementine was impulsive. Joel was already going to apologize, unfortunately it was after Clementine already had her memory of him erased.
creativevision Yeah but that doesn't explain the last scene where it was repeated 3 times.
Association of Free People The last scene when they were both playing in the snow. It was shown three consecutive times. Like it is bound to happen three times.
+AwesoMESS I can explain it, it's called editing.
creativevision That's awesome! So they just forgot to edit it didn't they? It has absolutely nothing to do with the story. Brilliant analysis.
I think this film is pure genius. There are so many ways to interpret it. The way I interpreted the title being related to the story was that despite Joel had gotten the procedure he cannot forget Clementine and vice versa, therefore there is "Eternal Sunshine in The Spotless Mind". Though the memories are erased, they still remember each other.
We are in a Reincarnation loop... (similar to this movie)
Please visit Forever Conscious Research channel to learn more...
This my friends, is what you call a soul tie / karmic bond...it's also a blessing because after you learn the lesson, it leads you to your core, where the sunshine resides within.. Meditate, sublimate, transcend!
I like to think, even as Joel and Clem accept their relationship will not work, their experience of finding each other again and gaining understanding of their previous relationship together would inspire them to do things differently. Perhaps their understanding of their incompatibility causes them to give more care to the relationship this next time around. For me, the saddest moment in this film is when Clem says to Patrick no one she has dated has ever given her a piece of jewelry she liked. In this one utterance, she reveals how her relationship with Joel was different, was special. It makes sense to me their first time around would work as a cautionary tale for their second attempt. Going into this second effort, they already have a great tool at their disposal they didn't their first try; they have their Lacuna tapes. They have a road map of major issues they may hope to encounter and may plan ahead. Of course it's quite possible they would've listened to their tapes and realized their willingness to jump in head-first a second time was hasty. At the same time, how much better would all of my failed relationships been if we could've gone into them with complete honesty? Maybe I'm a hopeless romantic, but those scenes of Joel and Clem's happy relationship falling apart seem as though they could've gone very differently if they only knew more about each other's needs. If Joel could've given Clementine a little more space and if Clem could've been a little more considerate of Joel's feelings, their relationship could've felt much more like the Light and Day - Polyphonic Spree music video. The scene most emblematic of this disconnect is Joel's final dream scene. He and Clem are at the beach house:
Joel: I walked out, I walked out the door!
Clementine: Why?
Joel: I don't know. I felt like a scared little kid, I was like... it was above my head, I don't know.
Clementine: You were scared?
Joel: Yeah. I thought you knew that about me…
It is true no relationship I've experienced feels anything like that first, getting-to-know-you stage of romantic love after a certain amount of time. I've often described this stage as sex and elation. But when that fades, I'd like to think, if we care enough about each other, something stronger may grow out of it.
To me, the ending felt more like, this time they're aware of what's to come and this time they're commited to being together, with all the good and bad. Clem was leaving but Joel stopped her. She tells him that eventually he's gonna soon notice the stuff he doesn't like about her then she'll get bored with him but despite that they both said "okay". A casual "okay" that was their agreement to stay together despite knowing that it won't always be sunshine and rainbows. The loop ending was looping a scene of them running and having a good time together. It was a happy scene looping symbolizing that no matter how many times their world is repeated, they both end up having good times together though their relationship isn't perfect. And that to me is a fitting way to end the movie. Just like how the song says it "everybody's gonna learn sometime".
I think in the end its a spotless mind anyway because they have a clean slate to 'begin again' because they now know what they like and dislike about one another and can build on that and since they know what it feels like to loose each other the feeling of i should've done this or that differently well now they can so its like a new relationship with each other
I think that way too. But I guess in sense if you met someone over again knowing your history would you do it all over again or would you let it pass you by and they chose to start over again knowing the history between them and also knowing what they had thought of each other in the tapes.
I was watching this and realized the hints that this is actually more about assisted suicide..,. and i remember reading that the writer and director has a hard time admitting to it but the idea of it was just that... the final decision to end it all but then changing your mind when its too late. Notice jim's life (well his best and worst memories with clementine since its about his relationship) flashing before him as it disappears into black darkness and into nothing... there is symbolism everywhere about wanting to live, to feel, to love to hate but bottom line to feel even if its unhappiness.. to forget is to die.. who are we without our minds and memories? our confidence our love almost everything we are is our memories both new and old and that to end our life is to end all the possibilities. This film had a much deeper meaning.
Dont like this theory. Also can't find any hints pointing towards suicide in the movie either.
Oof. I've thought about that concept of assisted suicide, but not really in regards to this movie, that makes a lot of sense. Like death itself is the only way to become truly spotless... Yess.
Oof. I've thought about that concept of assisted suicide, but not really in regards to this movie, that makes a lot of sense. Like death itself is the only way to become truly spotless... Yess.
We are in a Reincarnation loop... (similar to this movie)
Please visit Forever Conscious Research channel to learn more...
while i wouldn’t say it’s a direct allegory for suicide, i think it’s certainly about more than just relationships. it’s about loss of self through loss of memories. the personification of Clementine is really more Joel than Clementine. And when that memory dies, part of Joel dies. that is the experience of aging. “losing all of your characteristics,” as was said in Synecdoche, New York
I think when clemanttine was erasing her memory Joel came in her mind and said the same to meet in Montoque
But to come two weeks later on the exact day after joel had his procedure? There's something about the universe/fate willing them together with all that happened with Patrick unintentionally planting the seed of joel in her mind. Its such a coincidence that the actor who played him saved joel and clems relationship accidentally through his own self interest and desire would also play frodo who in the end accidentally saved middle earth when fighting with gollum for possession of his precious.
my eternal sunshine. until we meet again...
This movie legit WRECKED my shit. I feel like the ending wasn’t about “awe theyre meant to be” but I see it as they still aren’t meant to be, they will be repeating the cycle of fights..until leaving again. But they are so in love that they are willing to break each other’s hearts all over again :,(
When he woke up i didn't realized until that frame when the window showed up and the scrape in his car... Thats when it hit me that its a loop
I got that at the end but I couldn’t understand everything going on throughout the film.
Acdragonrider the mocie is basically going backwards from his last memory of her till the very first memory of her and how they met
but i thought at the ending that he sorta broke the loop by asking her to wait instead of letting her go
I’ve seen millions of movie by now, and still this is my favorita movie of all.
I disagree that they will continue to follow the loop. I think the loop was broke when Mary send all the clients their recording tape, so now Joel and Clem knows they have been through this process before, which I guess was not a part of the loop. So maybe this is the end of a sad circle.
My favorite movie since now ❤ i have no idea what I've been doing for past 7 years and missing this masterpiece out💔✨
I like, and respect your view on the movie. However I see it in another way. The way I see it, the undertone leitmotif is its better to have loved and lost, than to have never loved at all. I dont think the procedure will ever happen again because I think the Doctor is done doing his practice after everything that happened. Joel and Clementine are bad for each other and their relationship will never work out. However they were rewarded with being able to see that forgetting what they had was not the answer, and even though they know they wont last, they dont care. I believe that they will break up again in the same way but will have to deal with the pain.
watched this movie because I fall in love with a song from a Korean indie band, hyukoh titled Gondry (the director of this movie). The m/v of the song kinda have the vibe of this movie and it is made to appreciate the director for this movie. Great mind-blowing movie, really.
First time watching this movie. Never experienced film making like this. Jim Carrey gave his best performance by far.
Very astute analysis of such an intrinsic film--well done. It's such a rich story, and it'd be interesting to theorize about Joel and Clem as characters--their personalities, dynamics, and idiosyncrasies that made them initially fall in love, break apart, then fall back in love.
It is honestly my fav movie at the moment. The whole thing feels like a fever dream, which is very rare
I personally don’t think they’re soulmates. I think they do love each other but, they don’t work together. We’re showing this through the movie. I think that’s why the “Ok.” line is so important. They understand that it’s likely going to end up destroyed again. But that’s ok, because they’re willing to go through that heartbreak again because they love each other. They’re destined to fail, but that’s OK because they want to experience it.
I feel like you ignore the fact that characters progress. They forgot their past lives, but they remember the tapes. They remember that they had past lives even if those lives are not fully realised for them in memory. I don’t believe they will fulfil the loop. They saw what it did to them this time, how could they ever expect to be happy erasing it again?
B.A.G. Studios Thank you! All of these reviewers keep saying that they keep cycling through procedure, while there is zero evidence of this. Only If they had never had the epitome through the listening to the tapes, would this be possible.
The original was supposed to include older versions of Clementine and Joel and it shows/imply that they erased each other from their memories multiple times throughout the years.
Elisha Gomez ..I'm talking about the movie that was released.
@@logicn.reasoning9744 One of the last scenes of the movie is Joel and Clementine playing in the snow at Montauk and it sort of loops back, which to me implies that they will keep making mistakes, keep falling in and out of love with each other. However, even if they end up 'falling apart', it doesn't matter because all the good times make it worth it. That's why they keep going through the loop. I think the ending is pretty open ended and there's really so many ways to interpret it. I guess that's what makes it a great movie
Elisha Gomez I love this movie more than any other and respect your opinion, but I just can't get past them actually deciding to go through the procedure again. It was a disaster for the both of them. At the end, they decide to, in a way, make things right/ normal again. To fall in love, fall out and hold onto the memories good and bad this time, in turn retaining their full humanity.
Charlie is a screenwriter we take for granted. Every thing he has done is beautiful in it's own way
I'm very happy to have stumbled upon your channel this evening. As it turns out I recently watched this film again this week. It's still as powerful and moving as when I first watched it. In my opinion it's one of the great romantic comedies. Right up there with Annie Hall.
I dont think this is a romantic comedy film tho..
It's not a comedy at all.
Did the fact that Jim Carrey plays in the film make you assume it's a comedy? Did you watch the film? It is NOT a comedy.
is Annie Hall also depressing? lol
is Annie Hall also depressing? lol
I got something else out of the film. As I understand it its not a loop (it cannot be since Pats involvement will not be reproduced and we do not know what will become of the mind erasing company once the tapes had been sent out). For me in the end these two meet up AND get to see how the relationship will end and going into this with that knowledge will lead to something totally different.
rolscho13, if you read the script, this analysis makes perfect sense. There are a few things that were left out in the movie.
this movie NEVER fails to make me cry. it's one of my comfort movies.
I see this movie (one of my all time favourites) differently. I see it as a movie about how we can learn from past mistakes and break patterns and how that is really, really hard, but if we have a second chance, knowing what we stand to lose, maybe we can let the small stuff go, be more appreciative and make things work. I see it as a movie about how painful growth is, but how it also gives us hope for being able to make things work, next time.
A lot of people who meet their life partner say that all the breakups, failures and pain before it taught them to be the person they need to be in order to have a successful lifelong partnership and without them that they never would have had the wisdom and skills to make it work this time.
They key difference is that this time they KNOW what flaws about each other drove them crazy. Knowing your flaws and being realistic and working on them makes all the difference, doesn't it? Maybe not always, but sometimes? The movie ending is deliberately ambiguous, with Clem and Joel promising they won't be like they were before the procedure, but still in denial about the fact that they are both capable of growing to hate someone they love so much, they both apologise when listening to the tapes and claim 'I would never say that' etc.
It is up to us as viewers to decide whether we believe they are capable of overcoming their denial, accepting the imperfections of themselves and the other and growing through that act. Ultimately the film asks whether we ourselves are doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past or can accept them and grow from them, possibly allowing us a shot at a better future.
This movie reminds me so much of him.
We knew each other so well, so many countless of nights of conversations exchanged, flowing like a breeze of blissful wind.
No one ever knew me truly like how they did, the eagerness crawled to meet him everyday, atleast just one glimpse, that made my day...
Growing fondness made me sickenly enjoy their presence, even from the first time i met them it was so unbelievably purely ecstatic.;
however being trult platonic and never coming forward broke the once forseable future shattered in pieces and fragments all across the floor.
for once i thought my mind and heart could handle, but no wonder, deep down i was scared of myself and not the other.
it was never your fault, please let me see u, i never got to say goodbye.
This film genuinely hurt me to watch. I can relate to Joel in a way. Not wanting to let go but to let go of that pain that goes along with those memories. Wow. Such an impactful film.
Can't say that it's a loop because their relationship doesn't exactly get reset. At the end of the film they understand each other more than they did before
i just so happened to be reading The Picture of Dorian Gray while watching this film and there’s a quote in Dorian that’s kinda similar to the concept of spotless minds being happy. It goes :
« The stupid have the best of it in this world. […] If they know nothing of victory, they are at least spared the knowledge of defeat. They live as we all should live, undisturbed, indifferent, and without disquiet. » (Chapter 1)
First time I saw this movie, I was absolutely confused for the first half (although I'm pretty used to disorientating movies) and in the second half, I was left in tears. This movie, although being a "comedy"-drama, is one of the most beautiful movies I've ever seen!
I love the meet me in montauk scene. It use to make me feel so hopefull when I was younger.
BEAUTiful analysis! Thank you for that! Much needed after watching this masterpiece of a film👌🏼
Thank you! Just relelased a new vid, check it out if you have the time!
- Hugh
Of all the places to meet: Montauk. If you're interested, research the Montauk Project. Experiments in consciousness & time travel. Trippy stuff, just like this superb film. Charlie Kaufman is a genius. Montauk wasn't picked randomly.
God I love this film. The best piece of art to have been made during my lifetime
Your analysis added an extra layer of depth that I didn't even think existed up to now cause I've watched the movie numerous times,even read the poems of Alexander Pope Eloise to Abellard and still to this day hearing a were review of this film gives me chills. Unfathomable. Greatest film ever
I dont agree that their relationship will continuously loop. Because the second time they meet they get to hear the recordings of what their future self will think of the other and they are both aware of that both of them did the procedure to erase their memory of the other. I believe that its more about that they are both willing to explore a doomed relationship because they care more about the journey than the destination. Its not really a jab at the traditional way of viewing relationships, that the destination like having kids or getting married is the ultimate purpose of a relationship. I think rather Gondry wanted to show the beauty of people falling in and out of love just for the experience. Non of them can contain themselves from exploring this new shiny spotless person even though they are a big red walking flag. It is a new take on doomed love, there is no room for any wishful thinking or blind optimism, its naked and raw, its bitter sweet and its very human.
This film makes me think of my ex and all the good and bad memories we had and the fact that it happened and I have to accept it but I never stop dreaming of her or thinking of her I miss you hannah.
so they'll stay in love as long as they erase their memory and thus keeping their love pure? If they always break up, how pure could it really be though?
from our point of view its outrageous but from their point of view its kind of amazing lol
Brandon Prayer i think this loop would work on any couple for that matter. If they didn't both get caught in it, they would've moved on. right?
Yea... Gotta keep that mind spotless lol i heard there was an unflimed alt ending where they met and erased each other for like 55 years... That coulda been super dark and interesting but its still kind of inferred but that ending blatently spells it out
Brandon Prayer That memory wipe shit doesn't work if they do it for 55 years. lol wasted time of the spotless mind.
I think that the point of the movie is that the bad moments make us who we are, and with out then we are fade to make the same mistake, vide Kristen Dust history
I left feeling hopeful after my last viewing. The fact that they fell back in love after all of the internal brokenness, struggle, and obstacles (Elijah Wood’s character and obviously the operation itself) eluded to me that nothing could truly separate them. Not to mention Joel’s acceptance of what they’re getting into after they hear their tapes. I left thinking that it was going to work out for the best after all
this is such a beautiful analysis especially the end about the comparison of "spotless" and "eternal sunshine." That's how I understood the film even though I couldn't grasp it fully.
This is the movie that has most consistently held the role of favorite in my life- thank you for helping me put words to why
I got married shortly after seeing this movie, are fifteen years of married and fifteen years trying to go to Montauk!!!! :-(
I really really envy both of them. It is not important to have some quarrels with each other as they are in love each other.
But what is spotless mind? When can we get the spotless mind...? and How?
Grant Yoon I think that's the point of the title : there is no spotless mind, so also no eternal sunshine. Only reality. Things aren't perfect and don't always go the way you want them to. Which I guess in a way is a nod to the "blessed be the forgetful" quote! That's my take on it anyways :)
Sadly, you're absolutely right.
But, still I want to believe or pretend there should be the spotless mind for me somewhere in the world.
What a brilliant and sensitive essay on one of the most unusual and gratifyingly deep films of all time!
To me this is one of the most beautiful love stories. You can erase all the memories of another person, but your heart wants what it wants, and their heart wants the same. The only element you miss is the ability to change. They will fall in love again and again, and break up again and again - until they change. Things that are unable to change are without life. So the real question is: are you alive?
i dont like videos much but this has earned, deserved and respected my like
both the movie and this explanation completely fucked me up
I have been through some difficult times in my marriage(19 years now), including one very recently. Difficult times are growth opportunities if both partners are willing and motivated. I have never been so hopeful about our future together as I am right now… after a major upset a couple of weeks ago which led to honesty and vulnerability from us both.
Someone - maybe Esther Perel, maybe I’m misremembering - has said that most people have five or six serious relationships in their lifetime, and the lucky ones have all of those relationships with the same person. In other words we have cycles of growth and change, and we can grow and change and love together or we can grow apart and give up and move on.
This movie struck me so hard when I first watched it, just a few months ago, and I remembered the plot and particularly the end while thinking on our recent trials. I thought of Joel and Clem and how they could predict that they’d fall in love, change, hurt, grow bored, miss each other and then fall apart… but given the opportunity they wanted to experience all of those things together again. “Okay.” It’s beautiful.
What a story.
Best movie ever
I am feeling happy to be among those few people who has reached the level consciousness when they can think and applaud such beautiful creation .
Stay Happy Guys❤🎉😘
THIS ANALYSIS IS REALLY EXCELLENT. HAVE WATCHED THIS FILMS MANY TIMES OVER (A VALENTINE'S DAY RITUAL) AND ALWAYS GAIN SOMETHING NEW. YOUR PERCEPTIONS ON THE STYLE AND STRUCTURE AND INTERWOVEN THEMES ARE INVALUABLE. I THANK YOU.
Fantastic analysis! I wish I could sit & discuss this & zillions of other movies & books with you ☺️ thank goodness there are still people left in the world who care about things other than gossiping & arguing! Haha
Thank you! Im glad my analysis could be helpful :) please subscribe for more, I have lots still to release!
why did u stop doing this
For some reason when I watched this it feels like a horror film. I think this is because of how chaotic and uncontrollable his situation is, he can't wake up, him resisting never worked, and everything was slipping away. Something I just felt like saying and thought is was interesting as its not something I would expect from this film first time watching.
Hands down my top fav film. It touches me every time I watch it.
wow. this was a very good reminder of the movie. I'm gonna watch it tomorrow
have you ever thought? at the end of the movie, clem and joel are running together, and did you saw the screen was vibrating? i thought it has meaning. in my opinion, the "okay" word means joel or clem will find something's bad about him/her self. and they okay about it. and when they trully found the something's bad, they will go to lacuna again, and erasing her/his memory. and start again. that's why the screen was vibrating. it meant happen for many times
Love this
Great analysis. This is such a wonderful film. There's always something new to discover under every layer of it.
I would like to bring a different perspective on the circle nature of the narrative that you mentioned. I don't think that they are caught in the cycle you mentioned. The reason being that they hear the tape recordings and this acts as a harbinger of what's to come. If they are not perceptive enough to see that then they will stay in that cycle. I like to think that both are smart enough to see that and that after a couple of cycles they will have figured out what to do to stay together or not start the cycle over again.
Thanks again for the video,. It got me thinking and that's as good a complement I think I can give you.
This analysis was really good!!! Helped me a lot thanks!!!
I thought the much bigger detail was towards the end we see that their fist memory together included the huckleberry song when joel makes a joke about it. She says not to do that when the meet again, which implies that she at least tried to fight the machine to save her memory since she still knows that song
This is the best analysis I've seen yet
did anyone else catch "adaption"?
Emilio I LOVE it when the second I think something and see the same comment I was about to write. It always makes me feel like I'm not a totally bitter, annoying person.
my fav writer is chills coughmedicine. he wrote masterpieces such as eternal shin of la less mind, being jim michaelvor, and how can i forget, adaption
@@tsumlo1406 you got all titles wrong
the best analysis i have heard about this movie
My favorite scene is towards the beginning of the film when Joel and Clem are lying down on a patch of ice and observing the night sky.
Clem asks Joel to point out a star constellation in the sky and Joel jokingly makes up a constellation, describes its shape and Clem starts laughing in amusement as she senses his bullshit and then she says to him - “shut the fuck up! “ - but it’s the way in which she said that line that was so profoundly endearing and sweet. The chemistry between the two was euphoria.
Though thought-inducing, it has a very pessimistic view on love...something that cannot be worked through or improved. Love this movie, just thinking about it in a different way
I always felt like this movie was about how love, the act of being I love, is more important than permanence.
My ex showed me this movie and it makes me wonder if this is us in every lifetime because when I first met him I felt like I knew him..
This movie broke my heart on another level. I sob every time I think about it.
Great analysis, you deserve more recognition.
Thank you, that means a lot! I just released a new video on aspect ratio telling a story in films, check it out if you're interested :)
I don’t know, I like the philosophy you pose however part of me thinks that at the end of the movie, in the present day, Joel and Clementine’s relationship may last this time around. They both erased their memories of each other however they’ve both grown and become more mature since the first time around. Even though they were erased from each other’s memories, Joel and Clementine still affected each other and it sticks after the procedure.
So their relationship originally started at the Beach party, when Joel ran away from the house?
that's when they first met, yes
that's when they first met, yes
This movie tells you to not let the negative dullness that comes as a relationship stretches on, to blind you from the person, who in the end, still makes you happy
Clementine's same speech at the end highlights for me that she hasn't changed/developed and will continue with the same instability. It was Joel who had to learn and accept Clem for who she is and to need to fight and not run away.
This is super good but also missing a huge part of the narrative that challenges the idea of "spotlessness" being a good thing. There's also this suggestion that ppl who don't remember don't learn, hence the repetition of "Everybody's Got to Learn Some Time" at the beginning and end. The Lacuna worker forgets her affair and does it again. And Joel and Clementine seem to go the same way but there's a disruption, they have their tapes. They both listen to each others' complaints. And it's ambiguous as to what they do with this info but the hope is that they learn from it.
clementine is a very difficult girl to keep. impulsive, easily bored. and he is the insecure type, like me, to fall head over heels in love with such a girl, and the result, is that he is weak, and therefore becomes boring. a certain amount of detachment in a relationship is good as it allows you to see clearly how to make the relationship work. otherwise you get complacent, you fall into the same old routine of watching movies on the laptop in bed together. you spend all your time with them so the rest of your life falls apart, you fuck up your studies, so you dont pursue a career, and that makes you boring as you dont progress. ambition is attractive. so the message to learn is guard your heart, though you could fall head over heels in love with them, dont allow yourself to be weak like that, be more ruled by your head, ruled by self preservation, and in doing so, the detachment will allow you to plot the relationship, to see its progress clearly, to correct errors, to introduce changes so that it keeps fresh. falling crazily in love ive learned is the worst thing you can do to yourself.the relationship will be fucked by this. because detachment, intelligent decisions, balance are needed to make the relationship last so you get married and have kids and have the happy ending. and head over heels in love clouds your mind so you cant think clearly to make those detached decisions. so man up. be a man. that is the message to learn from this movie..
omg ur such an alpha male huh
I wish I had my personal time back. To watch this movie all the way though with no interruption.
I don't really agree. You make it sound like this will happen again and again and again. Maybe that's true and maybe that's the point of the movie but that's not what happened. It all only happened once. There's no guarantee they will fall out of love again. I like to think they're commitment will be stronger after knowing all they went through, and still, after it all, fell in love yet again. I love it. It's the epitome of true love to me. It almost makes me tear up. I love it.
I watched this movie 2 times to understand the story but I don't know the meaning of this movie maybe it's a beautiful movie about relationship that tell us we may not like each other for always but we need to care for them.
So my far away bestfriend recommend me this movie to watch but i always avoided watching movies but once we both get into really bad argument as we both share same feelings for each other but just can't be together so he recommended me to watch this movie once again, as according to him our relationship is like joel and clementine and really when i watched it...really we are like them only! But as shown in this movie they fall in and fall out , we are like this only....now we are not in that connection but still i wish his best! We were not meant to be together but I'm happy to meet you and will always remember you!
absolutely beautiful anylisys of the film's name. your conclusion sums up the entrie picture, and trensends gorgesly into our everyday life
Kaufman is so ahead of his time.. i just love him. His infinite circles he writes like in Synedoche, New York, Beeing John Malkovich and this one. Also hes a very feminist writer, he discusses toxic relationship and role of a woman in Thinking of ending things. Also he makes us visible, which influence Media (Film, Social Media, games etc.) Has on us.