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’d.
Labour and rest, that equal periods keep;
“Obedient slumbers that can wake and weep;”
Desires compos’d, affections ever ev’n,
Tears that delight, and sighs that waft to Heav’n
-Alexander Pope, “Eloisa to Abelard” (1717)

Writing is often thought of as a thankless business.  Screenwriters are pressured to detail virtually every moment of a film with exquisite poetic dexterity evoking the most primal of human emotions from mere pen and paper, and are then expected to step aside while the director and stars take all the credit.   Perhaps that’s why they’re often perceived as neurotically insecure, obsessing over the most insignificant of frivolities.  Charlie Kaufman, primarily responsible for the script of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, is beginning to change all of that.

Among the most recognizable of all Hollywood scenarists, Kaufman has carved out a loyal following unlike any in recent memory with such refreshingly original scripts as Being John Malkovich (1999) and Adaptation (2002).  Both of these films captured the infinite complexities of the human mind; its boundless power, enrapturing wonder, and vexing flaws.  Kaufman, with the help of French music-video director Michel Gondry, achieves something even greater with this film.  He attempts to tell the story of love, not as it is, or should be, but as an untethered, yearning imagination might perceive it.  The results are breathtaking.

Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet are in love as Joel and Clementine, polar opposites (Joel is a shy working stiff while Clementine is a compulsive, unhinged, free spirit), which is probably part of the appeal.  The star-crossed romance eventually comes to a bitter end, so bitter in fact, that Clementine decides to hire a company called Lacuna Inc. to completely erase Joel from her memory.  Talk about an overreaction.  Discovering Clementine’s drastic decision, Joel is so completely devastated that, out of revenge, he chooses to undergo the same procedure to erase her from his memory.  When asked about the dangers of brain damage as an effect of the procedure Dr. Howard Mierzwiak (Tom Wilkinson) thoughtfully replies, “technically, the procedure is brain damage.”

Almost the entire remainder of the movie takes place inside of Joel’s mind as two technicians (Mark Ruffalo and Elijah Wood) systematically erase all traces of Clementine.  All goes according to plan until Joel’s heart, mid-procedure, and while still unconcious, begins to soften.  All of the beautiful memories of Clementine start flooding back.  Suddenly, the bad times don’t seem so bad after all.  He decides it’s really not worth it to destroy such cherished memories because of a few moments of reactionary anger.  Aware of the limited time before Clementine is gone, he desperately tries to tuck away what’s left of his love in the hidden corners of his mind.

Michel Gondry’s considerable skill and imagination result in a dizzying visual adventure that enhances Kaufman’s already brilliant script.  Everything is exaggerated, metaphorical, or fantastic.  Flashy camera techniques that would seem unnecessary and annoyingly showy in another film work surprisingly well here in the context of Joel’s frantic attempts to retain even the smallest fragments of Clementine’s essence.  The audience can’t help but become emotionally attached to Joel and his condition because it’s a condition shared by all humankind.  We feel his joy in finding love where better judgment thought impossible.  We feel so intensely his despair in losing what was once so sacred, and we feel the endless torment of guilt and ownership in the failed dream of a perfect love.

This film is a unique example of the power of the moving picture to blur the lines between actors, writers, directors, and audience members creating an experience rather than two hours of oblivious entertainment.  Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is the best picture of the year.