The film ‘Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind’, 2004, directed by award winning director Michel Gondry is a delightful film about the complex inner workings of one 's brain and the intricacies of human relationships. Encouraging the viewer to further reflect on their own life and outlook on the world with its complex storylines and themes. In the film Joel, portrayed by Jim Carrey, begins a relationship with Clementine, portrayed by Kate Winslet. The film follows the highs and lows of their relationship and subsequent break-up and erasing the memories of one another. The characters within the Eternal Sunshine are not those of a typical ‘rom-com’. Every pivotal moment of the film has been brought about by a characters fear or regret. Joel
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Rather than being engulfed in fears about what may happen is she does a certain thing, as Joel is, Clementine is more afraid of regretting the things in life that she doesn 't do. For the duration of the film the viewer can also see Clementine turning to drugs and alcohol as a means to numb herself. She is so scared of being hurt and feeling the regret of her past that she shuts down her emotions through these means. However the more Clementine suppresses her sadness and regret the harder it becomes for to experience happiness. In addition, clementine lives her life very openly, as she says herself, ‘I 'm an open book. I tell you everything, every damn, embarrassing thing.’ and its true, she lives her life becoming friends with random people on trains and taking spur of the moment trips with strangers. However, Clementine is unable to truly be herself alone or with anyone also because she is terrified of getting hurt and deeply insecure of her true self so she instead deflects attention with self-deprecating humour and an overly extroverted and eccentric way of life. As Clementine says to Joel, ‘I’m always anxious thinking I’m not living my life to the fullest’. This quote entirely encapsulates clementine’s fear. She is afraid of regret. She runs from anything that may hurt her to avoid being hurt and regretting her decisions. If it …show more content…
As demonstrated by Joel who was cripplingly afraid however eventually learnt to embrace his fear. On the opposite end of the spectrum sat Clementine. Rather than being afraid of everything she did Clementine was chronically afraid of regretting the things she hadn’t done. Somewhere between these two extremes sits Mary who was so scared of her regrets that she had them entirely removed from the equation by erasing any memory of her affair. Each other these characters end up in the exact same position as they were prior to having their memories erased as a way to escape their problems. None of them were about to grow through accepting their own fears in the long term or learn from their own mistakes from embracing
Rather than being engulfed in fears about what may happen is she does a certain thing, as Joel is, Clementine is more afraid of regretting the things in life that she doesn 't do. For the duration of the film the viewer can also see Clementine turning to drugs and alcohol as a means to numb herself. She is so scared of being hurt and feeling the regret of her past that she shuts down her emotions through these means. However the more Clementine suppresses her sadness and regret the harder it becomes for to experience happiness. In addition, clementine lives her life very openly, as she says herself, ‘I 'm an open book. I tell you everything, every damn, embarrassing thing.’ and its true, she lives her life becoming friends with random people on trains and taking spur of the moment trips with strangers. However, Clementine is unable to truly be herself alone or with anyone also because she is terrified of getting hurt and deeply insecure of her true self so she instead deflects attention with self-deprecating humour and an overly extroverted and eccentric way of life. As Clementine says to Joel, ‘I’m always anxious thinking I’m not living my life to the fullest’. This quote entirely encapsulates clementine’s fear. She is afraid of regret. She runs from anything that may hurt her to avoid being hurt and regretting her decisions. If it …show more content…
As demonstrated by Joel who was cripplingly afraid however eventually learnt to embrace his fear. On the opposite end of the spectrum sat Clementine. Rather than being afraid of everything she did Clementine was chronically afraid of regretting the things she hadn’t done. Somewhere between these two extremes sits Mary who was so scared of her regrets that she had them entirely removed from the equation by erasing any memory of her affair. Each other these characters end up in the exact same position as they were prior to having their memories erased as a way to escape their problems. None of them were about to grow through accepting their own fears in the long term or learn from their own mistakes from embracing