Sample Dialogue: "Too many guys think I'm a concept, or I complete them, or I'm gonna make them alive. But I'm just a f**ked-up girl who's looking for my own peace of mind. Don't assign me yours." Perhaps the best version of a deconstructed MPDG appears, like much of the rest of this list, in a film written by a man (in this case Adaptation's Charlie Kaufman) and taking place within a meta-fictional environment constructed around the perspective and internal world of the male protagonist (Jim Carrey's Joel). Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind seems initially quite similar to many of the other films listed here in using a fantastical narrative device to view its love interest as a construct before things go wrong when she turns out to be more of a real person. The difference is purely in how successfully it manages to navigate that complex narrative conceit. Through career best performances from Carrey and Kate Winslet as the colourfully haired Clementine, as well as insightful writing from Kaufman and director Michel Gondry, the relationship feels real even amongst the sci-fi trappings. Yes, the Clementine we see through much of the film is filtered through Joel's mind, but she still feels more like a real woman than most of the "girls" on this list. Clementine doesn't just insist that she's a "f**ked-up girl" looking to find her own place, not wanting to complete some guy's fantasy, she shows it. Thanks to Kaufman and Winslet, she is charming, exciting and free spirited in a way that you can see why Joel imagines her to be an MPDG, but she is also selfish, irritable and overly impulsive, qualities that make her personality feel more rounded. The original script was to end with the relationship disintegrating again and the mind wiping happening all over again and again, showing that, like Days Of Summer's Tom, Joel hadn't really learned anything. The more hopeful, romantic ending that we got, though, feels more satisfying. Here is one couple that feels enough like two real people for the audience to root for.
