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Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Joel Barish, heartbroken that his girlfriend underwent a procedure to erase him from her memory, decides to do the same. However, as he watches his memories of her fade away, he realises that he still loves her, and may be too late to correct his mistake.
2004 · Directed by Michel Gondry · 108 min · Science Fiction · Drama · Romance · Screenplay in the scene database · 40 frames
Tagline
You can erase someone from your mind. Getting them out of your heart is another story.
Plot
Joel Barish discovers that his estranged girlfriend, Clementine Kruczynski, has undergone a procedure to have her memories of him erased by the suburban Long Island firm Lacuna. Heartbroken, he decides to undergo the same procedure. In preparation, he records a tape recounting his memories of their volatile relationship.
The Lacuna employees work on Joel's brain as he sleeps in his apartment so that he will wake up with no memory of the procedure. One employee, Patrick, leaves to see Clementine; since her procedure, he has been using Clementine's memories of Joel as a guide to seduce her. While the procedure runs on Joel's brain, the technician (Stan) and the secretary (Mary) smoke cannabis, party, and have sex.
Joel re-experiences his memories of Clementine in reverse chronological order as they are erased, starting with their last fight. As he reaches earlier, happier memories, he realizes that he does not want to forget her. His mental projection of Clementine suggests that he hides her in memories that do not involve her. This halts the procedure, but Stan calls his boss, Howard, who arrives and restarts it. Joel comes to his last remaining memory of Clementine: the day they first met, on a beach in Montauk. As the memory crumbles around them, Clementine tells Joel to meet her in Montauk.
Plot summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.
Crew
- Screenplay: Charlie Kaufman
- Cinematography: Ellen Kuras
- Edited by: Valdís Óskarsdóttir
- Music: Jon Brion
- Production design: Dan Leigh
- Produced by: Anthony Bregman, Steve Golin
Cast
- Jim Carrey as Joel Barish
- Kate Winslet as Clementine Kruczynski
- Kirsten Dunst as Mary
- Mark Ruffalo as Stan
- Elijah Wood as Patrick
- Tom Wilkinson as Dr. Mierzwiak
- Jane Adams as Carrie
- David Cross as Rob
- Deirdre O'Connell as Hollis
- Thomas Jay Ryan as Frank
Production
- Country: United States of America
- Language: English
- Studios: Focus Features, Anonymous Content, This is that
- Budget: $20,000,000
- Box office: $72,258,126
- Themes: new york city, regret, jealousy, deja vu, amnesia, dreams, operation, relationship problems, love, memory
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