Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind

Michel Gondry’s tour de force Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind had all the makings of a crossover smash, but it may have been just slightly too strange for mom and dad to grip. Jim Carrey, in a terrific, massively understated performance, plays a man whose slightly loopy true love (Kate Winslet) pays to have all traces of him removed from her memory. Carrey’s only recourse: having Winslet exorcised from his brain, too. Much of the beautiful film takes place inside Carrey’s mind, reliving the relationship as it’s slowly stripped away. Gondry’s bracing visuals—pieces of sets disappear, Carrey runs into himself—aren’t played as sci-fi indulgences, but rather as frenetic reminders of a past Carrey doesn’t want to lose.

Updated 07/29/2009