Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Short description
Joel Barish is a reserved, orderly man whose relationship with Clementine Kruczynski has ended badly. When he learns that she has undergone a procedure at a company called Lacuna to remove every memory of him, he is hurt and decides to have the same thing done to his memories of her. During the night-long process, technicians work in his apartment while his recollections are erased one by one, beginning with the most recent. As he relives the years he spent with Clementine, he comes to feel he does not want to lose them after all, and he struggles against the procedure from inside his own mind.
Michel Gondry directed the film, his second feature after Human Nature, from a screenplay by Charlie Kaufman. Jim Carrey plays Joel and Kate Winslet plays Clementine, with Kirsten Dunst, Mark Ruffalo, Elijah Wood and Tom Wilkinson in supporting roles. Made for about 20 million dollars, it took roughly 72 million dollars worldwide, a strong return for a film of its kind.
Audience response has been very positive: on IMDb it holds 8.3 out of 10 from around 1.2 million votes, and on TMDB 8.1 from far fewer. A critics' rating of 8.8 from 256 reviews places it above both audience scores. The film blends romance, drama and science fiction, using the memory-erasure premise to examine how a relationship is remembered.
What's left behind the scenes
- The title of the film is borrowed from Alexander Pope's poem "Eloisa to Abelard" (1714). The same poem was used by Charlie Kaufman when creating his earlier project "Being John Malkovich" (1999).
- Nicolas Cage was very interested in the role of Joel, but Jim Carrey ultimately landed it.
- The company specializing in memory erasure is called "Lacuna Inc." The word Lacuna has Latin origins and means a gap or omission. It is also worth noting that the term "lacunar infarct" refers to an infarct where a small part of the brain becomes responsible for performing a specific function (particularly, memory).
- All of the scenes in the train were filmed in actual, moving train cars. No sets were used.
- The original version of the film included a scene of Joel and his ex-girlfriend Naomi's (Ellen Pompeo) last night together, but it did not make it into the final cut.
- The computer used in the procedures is called the Amstrad PPC (portable personal computer). This model was considered very popular in the early 1990s.
- Almost all of the film's special effects are non-computerized. The secrets of the filming are revealed on the DVD version of the film.
- The shots of the elephant parade were not prepared specifically; Kate saw it out the window, and she and the entire cast and crew ran to film the parade.
- Michel Gondry's favorite moment in the film was the scene with Clementine's sudden disappearance. Jim Carrey was unaware of this, and so when Kate Winslet disappears, Jim's face shows genuine fear and incomprehension.
- The idea for the plot came to Michel Gondry after a conversation with artist Pierre Bismuth, who suggested the following: Early in the morning, you open your mailbox and receive the following message: 'Someone you knew has just erased you from their memory…'
- The opening credits begin only at the 18th minute of the film.
- The surname of nurse Mary never appears in the end credits, however, if you watch the film carefully, you can notice a shot in which she can be recognized. This surname is Svevo. It was chosen for a reason, in honor of the Italian writer Italo Svevo (1861-1928), who was actively interested in the works of Sigmund Freud and believed he had managed to correspond with the philosopher.
- The actors were allowed to improvise during filming, which they happily did.
- Initially, during the train scene, the plan was to select music for pauses in the conversation. However, the filmmakers found it more interesting to do the opposite: the music plays when the characters are talking, and falls silent when an awkward pause occurs.
- Michel Gondry asked Mark Ruffalo to hide and scare Kirsten Dunst during the filming of one of the scenes. The prank worked, and Kirsten screamed like crazy. A bedroom scene with these same actors was also filmed, but ultimately cut from the film to reduce the runtime.
- In the scene taking place inside Joel's head, where the protagonist watches the memory erasure process, two Joels can be seen on screen at once. Interestingly, this scene was filmed without the use of special effects; instead, a quick-change trick was used.
- During an unplanned scene at a street parade, reporters tried to interview Jim Carrey. If you listen closely, you can hear someone from the crowd shouting "Talk to me!" to Jim.
- Michel Gondry developed a unique camera control system that he actively used during filming. He allowed the actors to act as they pleased, while directing the camera operators, each of whom wore headphones to hear the director's instructions. Michel himself remained at a distance, monitoring only the image transmitted from the cameras. In this way, the actors were given some freedom in expressing their emotions since no one was hovering over them. Kate Winslet admitted that she liked this experiment, which allowed her to bring out the character of Clementine more vividly.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
