Words On Film: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

"Words on Film" looks at the writing process behind films that have been nominated for “Best Original Screenplay” at the Academy Awards.

Holy creative love story. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) turns a romance into something of science fiction, reminding us that we need to cherish the moments that we easily take for granted. Two unlikely characters tell this story of love-gone-wrong, when hope reinstates itself at the last possible second. It's the classic "you don't know what you have until it's gone" moral, but told in a way that stays with you a lot longer than the simple phrase.

I remember wanting so desperately to be Clementine when I first watched Eternal Sunshine. It probably had a lot to do with her brightly-coloured hair (I was a teenager at the time), but I like to tell myself now that I had a connection with her that went beyond hair envy. I can't think of a lesson that I need to learn more than to appreciate what I already have. We will always want, we will always hope for more. That doesn't mean we can't be content with the things we have, with the people who care at this very moment. Why struggle to obtain more when we have everything we need surrounding us?

This film reads like a story. The screenplay really could be a work of literary fiction. 

EXT. COMMUTER TRAIN STATION - DAY 1

It's gray. The platform is packed with business commuters: suits, overcoats. There is such a lack of color it almost seems as if it's a black and white shot, except one commuter holds a bright red heart-shaped box of candy under his arm. The platform across the tracks is empty. As an almost empty train pulls up to that platform, one of the suited men breaks out of the crowd, lurches up the stairs two at a time, hurries across the overpass and down the stairs to the other side, just at the empty train stops. The doors open and the man gets on that train. As the empty train pulls from the station, the man watches the crowd of commuters through the train's dirty window. We see his face for the first time. This is Joel Barish. He is in his 30's, sallow, a bit puffy. His hair is a little messy, his suit is either vintage or just old and dirty and sort of threadbare. His bright tie has a photograph of a rodeo printed on it.

However, it's the special effects that allow us to watch as memories fade away on the screen - something that we wouldn't be able to dream up in our own imaginations. Eternal Sunshine is a film that needs to be watched, a story so unique from anything you'll find written between the pages of a book.

Writing Credits: Charlie Kaufman, Michael Gondry, & Pierre Bismuth