15 Best Romantic Films On Netflix Right Now
4. Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind
For those after a Romantic film with a difference, then this is the film for you. A truly bonkers script from the mind of Charlie Kaufman, explores the reasons why lovers wish to remove all memories of broken relationships, by having his characters literally have their memories of lost loves removed. The story takes us inside the memories of Jim Carrey's Joel as he slowly has all memories of his former lover deleted from his mind. The central conflict of the film comes when Joel attempts to cling on to the good memories, fighting against the machine that his wiping it all away.
Carrey is outstanding as the daggy Joel, proving he can play second fiddle to another actor, this time to Kate Winslet's hyperactive free spirit Clemantine, Joel's ex love. The absurdity of the situation brings about some genuinely funny moments, while never losing its focus on what made Joel and Clemantine such a good, and bad, couple.
Kaufman brings the story to a genuinely emotional conclusion, characters who appeared to be in the movie as expository tools revealed to have their own fallen romances to recover from. Kirsten Dunst is particularly strong in the film's final act as seemingly innocent secretary Mary, the heartbreak of her own forgotten passions resonating when a stunning secret is revealed. Kaufman keeps delivering the twists to the end, but it is his ability to deconstruct the ways humans handle relationship breakups that makes this film work so well.