Eternal Sunshine is one of those movies that many people would see twice to fully catch all the details, because the editing and what happens in the film is complex. There are three different narrative time moments, narrated in non-chronological order, sometimes overlapping each other. It is not a film for simple minded people or those who have to have everything simply explained and presented to them. The film needs of an attentive attention and mental involvement, but the poetry of the images, the oddity of the story will captivate you very soon and you won't even notice that you are making any effort to understand the whole thing.
Jim Carrey surprises everybody with a role that shows the great actor he can be, and how versatile he is, too. He's superb as Joel, a lonely insecure and depressed guy who tends to get involved with women who are his opposite, who faces love, abandonment, rejection, loneliness, and companionship. Also excellent (and outside of their usual roles) is Kate Winslet in her role as Clementine, a cheeky cheerful girl addicted to flashy hair dyes who is attracted to boring men.
The lyricism of the music, the surreal scenes, the poetic cinematography, the part of the movie showing Joel efforts to preserve the memories of the past he initially wanted to destroy, the fact that the special effects are no such a thing but camera tricks and the result of a meticulous preparation and tampering of the movie sets, adds even more artistic value to this unique piece. The director and the editor of the film really deserve a big praise, as the movie is indebted to them beyond belief.
The only flaws I saw in the movie are the little romance mini-stories related to the technicians and doctor of the Lacuna Clinic (which do not contribute much to a film that, otherwise, would have been perfect), and the outcome linked to those actions could have been presented in a different way.
I would not call this movie a comedy, but a light drama.
Eternal Sunshine is a magical, unique and unforgettable movie. A piece of art, really, and of the best movies by Gondry.
