Carey delivers his best performance ever; another comedian proving that he has
it inside him to undertake a serious role when he chooses to let it out. He did
well in The Truman Show and pulled off admirable
performances elsewhere but he excelled here. Indeed, the whole cast delivered
sterling performances.Carey should in all honesty be up for an Oscar next time round, and the film
deserves a few nominations of its own, although the choice of an Amstrad PPC 512
rather let the credibility of a mind-wiping machine down a little.
That is perhaps the only criticism of the whole film, which is an absolute
wonder to behold. Even Carey's 'childhood regression' scene managed to avoid the
mania of the usual Carey treatment. He has at last fully redeemed himself for
his Ace Ventura, sub-standard slap-stick comedy and 'rubbery-face' roles.
The story is simple enough, unbelievably simple in fact; boy meets girl then
boy and girl fall out. Nothing new or spectacular so far, but we are no more
than ten minutes into the film and the opening credits haven't rolled yet.
For the substantial whole of the film we live inside Carey's mind after he finds
his ex-gal has had her mind wiped to forget him and decides to undertake the
same procedure. And while we are kept intrigued and captivated as his memories
are discarded and erased we are dragged through a love affair story without
even realising it.
It is fair to say that this is not a love story of classic lore, nor one which
can really classify the film in such a genre. Our two leads
are totally at odds with one another, Carey a quiet, shy introvert and Winslet
almost the complete opposite. There is no 'screen magic' here, just reflection
upon the reality that in love, two wrongs may indeed make a right, but not
necessarily for all eternity.
What charms and draws one person to another is often as inexplicable as it would
seem unlikely, but that is the way of the world. How long a couple in love can
stay that way is one of the great mysteries of life; what we admire and love
one day we may loath another, quirks that were quaint or endearing become
objects of hatred and disgust. Some relationships may survive while others fall
by the wayside, and it is the latter we see here.
While we may ponder upon whether it is better to have loved and lost, than to
have never loved at all, Eternal Sunshine explores not just how a
relationship collapses, but by following the disintegration of memories in a
reverse chronology, much as in Memento, we see what
fired it and set it ablaze in the first place.
But ultimately, the message is that if we ignore the lessons of a now
un-remembered history, we are bound to make the same mistakes as we did before,
in a Groundhog Day of a failed relationship.
We are what we are, and our destinies are what they will be. Que sera, sera.
And Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind looks destined to achieve
high acclaim.
