Some memories, no matter how small in weight or heavy in emotions, can be daunting when they arrive when we’d rather forget them. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, a film that romanticizes the idea of targeting specific memories of past loves that are present memories of heartbreak, explores the idea that while it is possible to forget the memory it is impossible to forget the action that rehashes it.

Blissful ignorance is the theme of the poem that titled this film – the kind of ignorance that keeps you from understanding the scope of the world because your mind is “spotless.” While this may sound ideal, having a mind that is free of the dangers of the world can keep you from being able to avoid them when they arrive – hence, the title of this film.

Forgetting the hurt of the past ends up being a disadvantage for all of the characters in the film. The relationship between Joel Barish (Jim Carrey) and Clementine (Kate Winslet) resembled that of most tumultuous relationships; filled with doubt, arguments, passion and unconditional love that is scary enough to push you away from one another for fear of losing each other. Their love did just that, and hurt Joel so deep but not as deep as Clementine. Clementine sought out a medical procedure by the fictional Lacuna, inc., that promised to rid their clients of specific memories. Her specific memory: Joel. Joel and everything that reminded her of him, so that she would see nothing around her that would bring back those memories. After Joel ran into her and it had appeared that she was completely unaware of who he was, she handed him a courtesy card from Lacuna, informing him that she had undergone the procedure.

Joel was crushed, but when he decided to go through the same procedure, he was defiant. He realized that getting rid of those memories no matter how bad some of them were did not outweigh the love that they shared. Even though their relationship was over, those memories comforted him enough to appreciate what was no longer.

While both Joel and Clementine deleting the memories of their failed relationship could have opened doors for a fresh, new start, could it also reintroduce the same problems from before? While the memories are gone, the people who caused them are still the same – will the relationship only recycle the same journey that led them to hurt they sought to erase?

For the receptionist Mary: yes. She fell in love with the Lacuna specialist and creator, Howard, and underwent the procedure twice to undo the hurt of discovering his marital status. She falls in love with Howard each time, but is left heartbroken after the journey ends the same way. Mary being a masochist, or glutton for repeated love that turns to pain could be a possibility, but this revolving door of returning to the problem expecting a different outcome is insanity.

The inconvenient truth is that memories, both painful and pleasant, are meant to serve as a cautionary tales – a reference point for the next phase of our life so that we’re not chasing after our own tails. While eternal sunshine seems ideal, the mind was never meant to be spotless.

Did you know the movie Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind is a popular quote from the Alexander Pope peom, Eloisa to Abelard? Read it here.