10 Movies That Will Make You Re-Evaluate Your Life
9. Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind
"How happy is the blameless vestal's lot! The world forgetting, by the world forgot. Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind! Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd." One of the rare films to feature Jim Carrey displaying a more serious range of emotion, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind offers us a glimpse into the way we handle our relationships. We've all had at least one person or experience that we couldn't help but want to erase from our minds entirely, and that's exactly what this film sets out to address. The story focuses on Joel and Clementine, the details of their messy relationship, and the aftermath of their subsequent breakup. While the first few minutes of the film prepare you for a fun, quaint romantic comedy with a couple of memorable quotes, the final result is far more profound. If anything, the film could be considered a study of one of the many facets of the human condition, and a prime example of the phrase "you don't know what you have until it's gone". The idea of erasing a period of your life may seem appealing, but Eternal Sunshine aims to prove to its audiences that even our worst memories can be worth holding on to. Humans often fail to remember how incredibly fragile relationships can be, and Eternal Sunshine is able to convey this message beautifully. This film allows us, as its viewers, to experience a bittersweet mixture of the pain of a dysfunctional relationship and the joy of rediscovering what first made the characters fall in love. Ultimately, it is a film that prompts us to decide what we would sacrifice in order to be happy again; not only does it perfectly capture our desire to forget, it outlines our inability to recognize that every moment is precious. But perhaps the film's crowning achievement is its lack of omniscience, which is shown in the form of an ambiguous final scene. Eternal Sunshine doesn't pretend to have all the answers in terms of relationships, and for this reason it is one of the most refreshing "love stories" we've had the pleasure of experiencing.
