Have you ever had a relationship break up so painfully that you wish you could forget that you ever met your estranged lover?  What if you could?

This is the question posed in the always-quirky Charlie Kaufman's (Being John Malkovich) script.  The story unfolds in three different frames of reference:

In one, the emotionally withdrawn Joel (Jim Carrey) and outgoing Clementine (Kate Winslet) meet seemingly at random and try to understand their familiarity and attraction to one another.  In the second, the unconscious Joel lays in bed while technicians (Elijah Wood, Kirsten Dunst, Mark Ruffalo and Tom Wilkinson) use intricate computer hardware and software to erase Joel's memories. In the third, Joel stumbles through his own memories of his time together with Clementine, valiantly trying to protect his memories of her even as they are erased.

The dialogue and character interactions are believable and moving, enforced by stellar direction and surprisingly good acting from all involved (including Jim Carrey!).  The narrative framing is fascinatingly unique, as well the little extra details the director sneaks into the background (watch for books with disappearing titles...)

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind succinctly captures the personal impact of potential cyberpunk technology.  It explores the ethical murkiness of treating a human mind like a computer, how the ability to delete or overwrite unwanted memories is not necessarily a good thing.

While Eternal Sunshine doesn't carry the usual trappings of cyberpunk, the exploration of how technology and computers can affect the human identity are evident.

And it is a great movie overall.

[buy now from Amazon US]

[buy now from Amazon Canada]