How happy is the blameless vestal's lot!
The world forgetting, by the world forgot.
Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind!
Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd

-Alexander Pope

caught "eternal sunshine of the spotless mind" by jim carrey and kate winslet.
really intriguing and sets me reflecting on myself and things that happened and are happening..

here's an explanation of the show which i read after watching it which makes it much clearer to me, otherwise i'll still be left wif plenty of question marks..

Now, this one is what I may call a classic. Another exploration of the human mind, and human relationships, but in a completely unexaggerated manner. This is the story of Joey and Clementive, a couple who are as distinct as chalk and cheese (with Joey reserved and Clementive vivacious, almost wild), but who have find happiness in each other. An altercation blows out of proportion, an impulsive urge, and Clementine uses a surgical proceedure to obliterate Joey from her memory. A revengeful (yeah, I know vindictive is the word, but vindictive is too strong) Joey decides to wipe his slate clean, of Clementine. The surgical procedure is the liberty that artistic independence allows, and the movie does not try to justify the feasibility of such an operation.

For the movie is not about surgery, but about the eternal sunshine of a spotless mind, that can always forget the altercations, the misgivings in favour of the multitude of niceties of a relationship and its contrast with human minds; minds that remember the latest altercation and forget years of togetherness, of sweet memories, for they are buried in the sands of time. And so, it is only when Joey travels back to those memories, for they have to be revisited and mapped before they can be wiped clean, he begins to have afterthoughts. As the episodes of his life flashes past him, he realizes that some of them were bitter but most were happy, and bitter or sweet, Clementine is the one who had brought a meaning, and magic, to his life. The second half of the movie has Joey and Clementine, together trying to burrow away some of their memories so that the procedure can not take swipe them off, for while living them again, they realize that these memories are all that is left of their life together. When the memories are gone, a life lived is gone as well.

There are various sub-plots in the story that I will not explain simply because I can not. The movies has a non-linear narrative, the characters are either reserved or wild; all create obstacles for one to empathize with the characters, but still, the lifes of Joey and Clementive become so real, that it would not be an exaggeration to say that 'Eternal Sunshine' is a love-story, a little different though. When Clementive asks Joey to add her to earlier memories of his, memories that will not be obliterated, Joey says, 'but I can hardly remember much of my life before you'. Clementine says, "that is so sweet", and so do we. When they embark on the journey of Joey's childhood, with Clementive in tow now, one realizes that there is always so much still to explore in a relationship for boredom ever to set in, only if two people are willing to travel together. Joey says, 'oh, much I wish I would have known you when Iwas a child', but this is exactly what he does when he takes Clementine along on his childhood memories.

The movie does not pass a coherent message, for it has no one message. That only when one can stand apart and watch his life going by, from a distance, that one can realize how wonderful a life it was, inspite of the same many mistakes made, so many 'Only Ifs, is one of those messages. That accepting people as they are, for they are still the wonderful people inspite of their imperfections, is another one. Finally, as Joey and Clementine come together again even when they no longer had memories of each other, and stay together even when they are told that there were certain facets of their relationship that had driven them apart, the message is clear. Two people who had once found happiness in togetherness will find it again, only if they wipe their minds clean of the dirty spots that come up occasionally, and this cleansing is not by wiping these spots clean, but defocssuing from these spots to a wider perspective, of a much larger canvass, most of which is unblemished and happy.

from http://viewthroughthefog.blogspot.com/2005/08/how-happy-is-blameless-vestals-lot.html

By the time Alexander Pope was twenty-nine years old, he had already experienced both the joy and sorrows of love. A life-long Catholic who had the benefit of formal education in Latin, Greek, French and Italian, Pope wrote his “Epistle from Eloisa to Abelard” in 1717 and expressed the wisdom on which Michel Gondry created his modern science fiction love story. In his poetic epistle, Pope wrote: “How happy is the blameless vestal’s lot! The world forgetting, by the world forgot. Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind! Each pray’r accepted, and each wish resign’d.”

Turning this phrase on its end and suggesting that what Pope struggled to achieve through his faith, “the eternal sunshine of a spotless mind,” could be experienced through the technology of science is a fascinating premise. Like Pope, most of us struggle with our inner thoughts and memories of painful experiences. Far from spotless minds, we may look at the nuns of a monastery and think, “How happy these blameless vestals must live. They forget the world and its troubles, every prayer is accepted, every desire purified. But how do I find such eternal bliss?” And if we decide not to go the spiritual route through the care of God, then it is natural to turn to science and ponder: “Perhaps if science could simply help me forget things and persons I don’t want to remember, then everything will be sunny!” This film explores why that would be unlikely.

Joel Barish (Jim Carrey) has just had his heart broken by a girlfriend. Fleeing into his inner thoughts, he withdraws at a party only to be pursued by a beautiful and impulsive woman named Clementine Kruczynski (Kate Winslet). Attracted by their opposite personalities, Joel and Clementine do not take the time and care to develop a committed relationship, but instantly meld their lives together into a relationship that soon turns sour as they focus more and more on their dissatisfactions. This focus culminates when Clementine engages the services of a physician who can remove every memory of Joel from her mind.

Creating a map of where Clementine has stored her memories of Joel, Dr. Howard Mierzwiak (Tom Wilkinson) and his technicians simply remove them during one long night of forgetting. When Joel realizes what has happened, he too decides to undergo the procedure.

What follows is enlightening. Love is something deeper than the memories of our times together with someone. We bond with them in levels of our lives that cannot easily be removed. Even if we could remove their memory, the damage to our personhood would be extensive, for we would have to also let go of that part of ourselves that was bonded to them.

The disappointments of life that clutter our minds are inextricably woven together with the joys and pleasures in such a way that we cannot remove the one without the other. The only true path toward “eternal sunshine” is a path that cherishes the memory of the sorrows and the joys, the loves and the disappointments of life. Fully placed within the forgiving love of God, the weave that results can be eternally blessed.





Discussion:

1. When Joel meets Clementine, it is clear that their opposite personalities are both the attraction as well as the difficulty in their relationship. How have you found this to be true in your relationships?
2. The nature of forgiveness is to not forget what someone did to harm us, but to admit it, confront the person and seek reconciliation and forgiveness. How would this have changed Joel and Clementine’s relationship?
3. Today, some are turning to science rather than to God to find their joy. Do you believe science will ever develop the methods to deal with our propensity to harm ourselves and those we love? Would you place your brain in the hands of this doctor and technician?
4. Even if it became possible to remove someone from your physical memory, what do you believe this would do to your soul? Can you remove someone from your soul?

from http://www.cinemainfocus.com/eternalsunshine.htm