Analysis Of Michael Gondry s Eternal Sunshine Of The...

Intro: Michael Gondry’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Eternal Sunshine) (2004), is a sci-fi romantic comedy drama film. The film follows Joel Barish and his attempts to forget his ex-girfriend Clementine Krucynski through a New York City firm called Lacuna inc. which focuses on memory erasing. The firm uses highly developed technology in order to erase Joel’s memories of Clementine, which ultimately leads Joel to re-meeting Clementine, and attempt to create a new relationship although the two have knowledge about their previous relationship, yet no memory of their relationship. As a result, the film highlights the issues of the human memory, and the ethical concerns of memory manipulation, which gives justifies critical discussion. These themes of memory and forgetting are highlighted through the films use of lighting, metaphors, and setting. This essay will attempt to critically analyse several scenes in Eternal Sunshine which discusses memory and forgetting i n relation to several theorists and their interpretation of memory. Para. 1: Eternal Sunshine’s illustration of remembering is one worthy of discussion. Within the film’s mise-en-scene, the use of the constant spotlight throughout the film suggests Joel’s attempt to keep the memories he has of Clemintine. An example of this is when we see Joel trying to hide Clemintine within his memories. The spotlight within the mise-en-scene of the film illuminates the both Joel and Clemintine as they run through what