Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is one of those pictures I would normally try and avoid. The hideous spot trailers promoting the film on television recently, coupled with an equally expansive title reminiscent of the sickly sweet Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, held up immediate warning signs - "you are now entering a chick flick zone, do not step any further beyond this point if you value your credibility!"

What I did not know at the time was that Eternal Sunshine is the latest screenplay from Charlie Kauffman. Kaufman has received screenwriting plaudits and critical success with his quirky, yet weird screenplays for Being John Malkovich and Adaptation, adding to a track record that also includes Human Nature and Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. It would be unreasonable to suggest that Kaufman's next film would suitably differ from his now trademark style and oddness.

Luckily my girlfriend convinced me to take her to watch Eternal Sunshine at the cinema (recompense for making her sit through Evil Dead 2 again the previous night) despite my reservations behind the awful trailer! Luckily, as always, she was right to have her way - the film is conceptually visualised by director Michael Gondry around the typical style and themes that Kaufman invites within his script. Meaning you are about to enter a realm of wonderfully visualised and disjointed oddness which transpires into a beautifully moving movie experience.

Jim Carrey plays Joel Barish - a shy fellow who, in the low-key yet novel pre-credits sequence, impulsively skips work and ends up meeting the vivacious and free-spirited, orange-top wearing, blue-haired Clementine (Kate Winslet) whilst wandering on an isolated beach. With a relationship formed and the credits now running, a presumed jump into the future shows an anguished and bewildered Joel becoming increasingly confused as to why, with the relationship apparently ended, Clem now refuses to acknowledge his presence and ignores him when he tries to salvage the relationship. It transpires Clem has visited Lacuna Inc who specialise in wiping memories from their clients and Clem has undergone the procedure to remove all such memories of Joel. Unable to bare Clem's ignorance of their previous relationship Joel decides to undergo the process as well and the remainder of Eternal Sunshine takes place over one night in Joel's bedroom and inside his rapidly disintegrating memory, as Lacuna Inc technicians Stan (Mark Ruffalo), Patrick (Elijah Wood) and Mary (Kirsten Dunst) wipe all traces of Clem from his mind.

Playing as a feverish dream with Joel wandering between landscapes of memory before they are erased, Joel’s subconscious becomes unenthusiastic with the procedure as he realises the number and variety of "good times" with Clem he is about to forget. Unable to awake while the procedure is carried out, he enlists the ‘memory’ of Clem to assist in an attempt to foil the technician’s procedure. Joel's subconscious and the memory delve further into Joel's mind in an attempt to bypass the wiping procedure.

Sounds confusing and convoluted? Not really! The plot certainly delves into a quasi science-fiction concept and is not brilliantly original. The state of mind of a character has been played out in films such as Total Recall, Jacob's Ladder and Brazil previously. Nor is the idea of a non-linear film all that uncommon. Joel's memories, running sequentially from the last time he saw Clementine before the break up to the point where they first meet follows in the same vein as Memento and 21 Grams. Indeed, strip away the dazzling camera technique, dexterity of editing and imaginative visual composition and Eternal Sunshine is a simple, affecting story of two lovers lost, spending too much time looking at each others inadequacies, forgetting what made them happy together in the first place - essentially what makes Joel question the mind-wiping procedure and rekindles his love of Clem.

However, what makes Eternal Sunshine work is the creativity that surrounds this simple love story. True, some may see it as all style and no substance, but this belies the tender heart at the centre of the tale.

Gondry's direction is full of creative flair (thanks to a music video background), but at the same time is both subtle and subdued. The grainy film stock used in scenes of Joel's memories serves to illuminate the bleak situation that he finds himself in as he grows more and more distant from memories he now wishes to keep. It also provides the isolated locations with an inherent, more calculated beauty (the beach looks serenely beautiful). Then there are the non-obvious visual touches, like the writing disappearing from the book in the bookstore and the blurred faces of already erased memories serving to enhance the dark visualisation of the thorough destruction of a love relinquished. The beach house collapsing around Joel and Clem is exceptional both visually and as a metaphor for the possibilities that existed for the couple at the start of the relationship, but is now being torn down as the memory is eradicated. The visualisation of Joel's memories is never over the top but instead expands upon the themes of Kaufman's assured screenplay admirably.

The script throughout is magnificent. Not a single line seems forced or out of place to simply push the story along and the non-linear narrative structure works very well. For instance, as Joel’s situation becomes more hopeless and bleak, the tone miraculously becomes more hopeful - journeying right back to those first, deeply romantic, days with Clementine and fondly remembering her strangely affecting nuances before the entire memory is lost. The non-linear structure is effectively required for the movie to work - the audience accepting Joel's hope and hopelessness to share an emotional engagement with the central character.

The content could have easily resulted in a stilted sentimentality. However the overall tone of the movie is bitter-sweet. The true purpose of the Lacuna technical team's storyline reveals an unexpected reversal and maintains an air of uncertainty up to the final frame. Poignant and lacking saccharine (unlike many other Hollywood romances), Kaufman's screenplay is an intelligent and realistic commentary on a flawed relationship, illustrating strengths, weaknesses and its fate in equal measure.

What holds this together though is the central pairing of Carrey and Winslet. The moments of tenderness between the two are believable and touching, allowing the audience to emotionally engage with the pair. Likewise the vitriol they throw at each other as the relationship disintegrates feels just as natural and realistic.

Carrey once again shows that he's not a one trick pony. Trading in the rubber faced lunacy that made him a star for a decent script, he produces a mature and restrained performance as the bumbling and quiet Joel - maintaining a quintessential unimitable charisma and likeability. Surely with this performance, The Truman Show and Man on the Moon he is now showing a range of acting talent that belies his comedic roots. Winslet, as usual, fares much better here in a slightly offbeat role (as with Hideous Kinky and Heavenly Creatures) than in a mainstream movie (Titanic). Her American accent is pleasingly maintained throughout and her playing of Clementine as a time bomb waiting to go off (and giving the detonator to a monkey) provides a necessary friction with Carrey to affect a realistic relationship in turmoil.

Eternal Sunshine is a wonderful film. It is certainly odd but this is in suit with the central premise and allows for a superior visually orchestrated and beautiful film to play out before your eyes. Enveloped in compassion and sorrow, the unconventional story and method of telling it should not be a deterrent to what could possibly be one of the finest films of the year.

Overall - Eternal Sunshine is an extraordinary beautiful, innovative and moving cinematic experience. A tightly written script, fleshed out by a visually imaginative director and two leads on top form, has produced one of the best films of the last few years. If this fails to move you then you need to defrost that cold black heart of yours
right now!!

Director: Michael Gondry

Screenplay: Charlie Kaufman

Cast:
Jim Carrey .... Joel Barish
Kate Winslet .... Clementine Kruczynski
Elijah Wood .... Patrick
Mark Ruffalo .... Stan
Kirsten Dunst .... Mary
Tom Wilkinson .... Dr. Howard Mierzwiak

Certificate: 15 (language, some aspects may be seen as surreal horror)

Running Time: 108

Genre: Romance/Drama/Comedy/Sci-Fi