Is there a cure for heartbreak? What if you could erase the memories that now cause you pain? That’s the premise of ‘Eternal sunshine of the impeccable mind‘, the film that Michel Gondry created in 2004 and which today celebrates its 20th anniversary. This probably sounds more familiar to you because ‘forget me‘, since this is the title chosen for distribution and screening in Spain. A surrealist translation into Spanish which also makes the charm of this fable of love, loss and forgetting.
The film tells the story of Joel, played by Jim Carreyand Clementine, to whom he gave life Kate Winslet. Through flashbacks, and without following a linear narrative, the French director tells how the protagonists met, fell in love… and ended up hating each other. So much so that they turn to a company (Lacuna Inc.) that offers to erase all traces of that person in your brain. Thus, thanks to “a minimally invasive procedure” (performed by Marc Ruffalo And Elie Bois)Joel revisits his story with Clementine before proceeding with the “erasure”.
The couple’s happy moments were echoed in the trailer, leading some to believe that they were going to see a romantic movie. And of course, when the lights went out in the room, the uncertainty came. Because that’s what it was, and science fiction, drama and heartbreak.
“There were people who came into the cinema and I didn’t know what I was going to see. Some teenagers thought it was a Jim Carrey comedy and of course, they were surprised. Others were looking for the Kate Winslet romantic comedy that the trailer was selling, and neither of them did,” José tells laSexta. At that time, he was working in a cinema in Madrid and remembers that “This movie caused problems”“You had to be inside the room so that people wouldn’t talk or comment loudly on their anger at the story. There were also some who came out delighted,” he adds.
Carrey, after the premiere of “Like God”, saw in this role the opportunity to show his dramatic side, thus moving away from comedic roles. Winslet was one of the actresses of the moment after participating in the show ‘Titanic‘ of James Cameron. The chemistry that manifests between them throughout the story is no coincidence. Jim and Kate spent hours talking about their experiences, their breakups and their love stories to build the fable of “Joely” and “Mandarina”.
Years later, the actress continues to recognize Clementine as one of her favorite works.I would love to play it again. It was a lot of fun and the possibilities for her hair color were endless (she has up to four different colors – depending on when she was in a relationship with Joel – in the film). “I would really like to know what happened to her,” Winslet explained while promoting “Wonder Wheel,” Woody Allen. For his part, the French director was so convinced that Winslet was the best option that, when the studio wanted to impose another actress, he threatened to abandon the project.
Tension and screams on set
The filming was not without tension. The discussions that the French director and Jim Carrey had both on the set and during the production phase are well-known. “One of the last times Jim yelled at me, I started yelling at him and I said: ‘If you yell at me, I don’t love you anymore. And if I don’t love you, I can’t direct you,” Gondry confessed in an interview for “Vanity Fair”.
For his part, the actor (in the same interview) admitted to having felt “hurt” by the filmmaker. The reason: Renee Zellweger. No, she’s not in the movie; and yes, everything has an explanation. Ellen Pompeo She played Joel’s ex-girlfriend Naomi in a scene that was ultimately scrapped. And Carrey, even years later, continues to maintain that Gondry cast Pompeo because of her resemblance to Renée Zellweger, with whom the actor had just broken up before filming.
“Michel likes there to be real feelings in the scene and real chemistry, so he hired Ellen, who is a wonderful actress. But she reminded me a lot of Renee. They looked similar. And I said, ‘Bastard!’ It turns out that it doesn’t even appear in the film,” the actor explained. However, the good relationship between them continued and in 2018, they worked together again in the series “Kidding.”
“I just realized I didn’t understand the ending at that point”
the movie raised approximately $74 million worldwide, of which more than a million came from Spain (with more than 226,000 spectators), according to ICAA data.
Rubén is now 43 years old and was one of those spectators, although he didn’t see it in the cinema. “It was the sensation of the moment and the DVD circulated in all the rooms of the dormitory,” he explains to laSexta. “You just have to look at the original title, and not the translation they did, it seemed like the story was going further” he adds. The original title comes from a poem by Alexander Pope of 1717and the verses are recited in the film by a very young woman Kirsten Dunstwho plays the role of the receptionist at the “erasure clinic”:
“How happy is the fate of the irreproachable vestal!
Forget the world, forgotten by the world.
Eternal splendor of the immaculate spirit!“
Today, this time in his living room, Rubén has rewatched what is for many already a cult film. “I think I just realized that I didn’t understand the ending at the time, I guess it was because of my youth or because of the way I saw relationships at that time,” he told LaSexta.
Gonzalo, for his part, came to the story of Joël and Clémentine only a few years ago. He did it through music. “I started watching fragments and videos of the film on YouTube, they were montages made by the fans themselves with a version of Beck. It wasn’t even the official trailer. That’s how I discovered this film,” he tells laSexta. “Everyone has to learn one day” was the song chosen for the opening creditswhich are broadcast 15 minutes after the start of the story.
Critics fell in love with the film for its the storyline, its aesthetics and the solid performances of the entire cast. Was nominated for two Oscars: Best Actress for Winslet and Best Original Screenplay for Kaufman, Gondry and Pierre Bismuth; but not for Best Picture. In the end, it ended up winning in the screenplay category. “We’re playing with time. I’m surprised people like it so much,” the director said in an interview. And so it is, 20 years later the public is still in love by Joël and Clémentine; As for correctly saying the full original title, we will talk about that another day.
