Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

2004 Directed by Michel Gondry

You can erase someone from your mind. Getting them out of your heart is another story.

Joel Barish, heartbroken that his girlfriend underwent a procedure to erase him from her memory, decides to do the same. However, as he watches his memories of her fade away, he realises that he still loves her, and may be too late to correct his mistake.

Jim Carrey Kate Winslet Kirsten Dunst Mark Ruffalo Elijah Wood Tom Wilkinson Jane Adams David Cross Deirdre O'Connell Thomas Jay Ryan Ryan Whitney Lola Daehler Debbon Ayer Gerry Robert Byrne Brian Price Josh Flitter Paul Litowsky Amir Ali Said Lauren Adler

Alternative Titles

灵光乍现, 美丽心灵的永恒阳光, 이터널 선샤인

drama romance science fiction

108 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by katie ★★★★★ 9

Also! Remember love is dead and always has been, nothing matters and we're all going to die anyway. Happy Valentine's Day!
Review by Joe Zappulla 74

Again these ratings aren't a reflection of my thoughts, but my mom's, on the latest Kathy's Korner where we watch a movie and talk about it later. She just watched and hated Eternal Sunshine
Mom: Bizarre. I-I've never done LSD but I thought i was on it. I was probably tripping heroin or something, i'm stuttering I can't understand what I saw. What's scarier is my son thinks is one of his favorite movies. I don't know who needs a shrink, me or him. The only thing I got out of it was Jim Carrey was in it. I-I-I don't know what to say, I'm at a loss of words, I don't know what I just watched. Bizarre. Put it…
Review by brat pitt ★★★★½ 11

i love this movie but when i was 16 it inspired my high school ex bf who was really into film to manic pixie dream girl-ify me & treat me as a concept which im pretty sure is what this movie says NOT to do ......! please just let us "manic pixie dream girls" be ~quirky~ in peace!
Review by Adam Cook ★★★★★ 38

I’m not sure I have an all time favourite film but if I was pushed to pick one then Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind would be a strong candidate. It is such a wildly inventive and beautifully crafted film, both behind and in front of the camera, that it never fails to impress or surpise me, no matter how often I watch it.
Charlie Kaufman is the great screenwriter of his generation. His work is unique (even with a few imitators springing up), incredibly creative but also heartfelt and honest. It is the latter quality that elevates his scripts from being mere quirky curiosities to becoming the basis of some of the finest films of the past twenty years.…
Review by James (Schaffrillas) ★★★★½ 11

Wish I could erase this film from my mind just so I can watch it for the first time all over again
Review by clara ★★★★½ 1

imagine ever wanting to erase kate winslet from your memory...... can't relate
Review by Ian ★★★★★ 5

This movie DESTROYED me.
It somehow reminded me of a quote from Call Me by Your Name:
"If there is pain, nurse it. And if there is a flame, don’t snuff it out. Don’t be brutal with it. We rip out so much of ourselves to be cured of things faster, that we go bankrupt by the age of thirty and have less to offer each time we start with someone new. But to make yourself feel nothing so as not to feel anything ― what a waste."
Truth is: we place too much value on outcomes. We imagine that if a relationship ended in heartbreak, then the whole thing was worthless. We tend to forget to be grateful of the deep, intangible, and sacred moments that we shared with our partners. And these moments, good or bad, are beyond priceless.
Cherish the entire journey.
Review by Mary Conti ★★★★★ 3

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

One of the biggest complaints about modern cinema is that filmmakers constantly put visuals over storytelling. Their overall motto is to put the money on screen. That's pretty much the goal for most filmmakers these days. To just show their command of visuals and the advancement of visual technologies. But that's really not enough, is it? One of the best things about cinema is how it uses these visuals to tell a story, and how these elements help tell the story, in ways that only cinema can.
In terms of telling stories in ways that only cinema can, I can't really think of a recent film that stands out more than Michel Gondry's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Through…
Review by josh lewis ★★★★ 4

not the only film to recognize that relationships are perpetually clumsy and collapsing, but to see it reflected in its construction is key--back in 2004 rosenbaum called this a cinematic mobius strip, and that to me is what makes this special, as where it eventually goes is less important than how it gets there... pain locked in an eternal conflict with yearning.
Review by katie ★★★★★

I pray people get broken up with so I can recommend this movie.
Review by ˗ˏˋ Liam ˊˎ˗ ★★★★ 5

this dream isn’t feeling sweet we’re reeling through the midnight streets and i’ve never felt more alone it feels so scary getting old :-(
Review by Hibiscus ★★★★★ 16

I truly felt like shit today.
A girl really like broke my heart. These things happen to everyone, of course, but it still messed me up. My confidence is far from the best otherwise, so when things like these happen: I really take a hit.
When I got home, devistated, I needed something to destract my thoughts. A movie was an obvious Choice.
I remember watching this film for the first time when I was about 15 years old. At the time, this was the first time I'd ever felt such litteral bliss from watching a movie, like actually falling in love. To this day, this is still the only film to make me feel this way.
Because of how…

Recent reviews

Review by chloe ★★★★★

i’m so sad
Review by Janaé ★★½

I found myself giving the script way more credit than it deserved.
Review by Jake O’Connor ★★★★½

Loved the curious ending, Jim Carrey is just amazing and I love him in this... idk just because I worked out that it was the beginning I didn’t enjoy it as much as a big reveal though it did catch me off guard acting like they wasn’t getting back together (was a bit of a cry)
Review by yall_lay ★★★★★ 1

First Movie I have seen of Jim Carey being serious.
Review by Mariangela Eráusquin ★★★★½

Es una película muy profunda y hermosa. La puedo ver mil veces y me sigue encantando.
Habla del amor, desamor, los sueños, la desilusión, la tristeza y los recuerdos.
Es un viaje psicológico en la mente de una persona que no ha lidiado bien con una ruptura. Es muy emotiva y poética sin dejar de ser real y reflexiva. Nos muestra como solemos idealizar a las personas, como las relaciones caen en la rutina, como algo con tanto amor puede convertirse en tormentoso.
Creo que es una película donde vemos como los personajes van cambiando, madurando y entendiendo que el amor, a veces, no dura para siempre, que quienes más amamos pueden hacernos mucho daño y viceversa, pero sobretodo nos enseñan que es importante aprender a estar solos y a no forzar las cosas.
Es una de mis películas favoritas de todos los tiempos! Y definitivamente es ideal para ver con el corazón roto :P
Review by Josh Adamek ★★★★½

Jim Carrey playing a little kid on the playground make me cry not gonna lie
Review by zainsgrains ★★★★½

so surreal, top 2 jim carrey performances
Review by Dalbert ★★★★½

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

Still wish it ended with the opening shot. Like the ending a bit more but still wish it didn’t go on as long as it did. It does add some interesting things to think about, but in my opinion, it should’ve left it up to your interpretation.
Review by Spencer Strickland ★★★★½

Oof my lil heart
Review by Peter Buller ★★★★★

I think this is as close as you can get in filmmaking to perfection. My mind is still trying to fully grasp what I just watched... wow.
I want to talk about the direction first. In the first 30 minutes or so I was intrigued by tbe direction because it seemed so mundane. It wasn't bland per say, but it was capturing everyday life with a sense of realism. But then, oh mama, did those thoughts start to be proven desperetly wrong, as Michael Gondry uses so many visual tricks and effects to disorient the viewer inbetween memories, and different scenes, it is almost a complete 180°. But yet, inside of that are the same formula of basic reality in…
Review by J ★★★★★

Meet me in Montauk.
Review by reubs_22 ★★★★★

Loved it. Amazing plot concept that leaves you thinking for hours after viewing. Really delves into the psychology of why they would want to erase a huge part of their life. Really leaves you thinking if you would do the same in their situation.