History Film / EternalSunshineOfTheSpotlessMind

* FantasticRomance: A very unique example in that the "fantastic" elements influence the ''dispelling'' of a romance, where the love story ends up moving ''backwards'', yet it otherwise counts: after going through a painful breakup, he opts to go through a procedure to erase his memories of it, but as it occurs, he ends up going through a trippy mental journey remembering why he fell in love to begin with, desperately clinging to the memories of their relationship before it's gone forever.

** Patrick is, a RomanticFalseLead at best and a perverted jerkass at worse. However, stealing memories (not to mention their underwear) of someone just to seduce them shows he's not exactly a man of good character.

* ValentinesDayVitriol: Jim Carrey's character, Joel, writes in his journal, "Random thoughts for Valentine's Day, 2003: Today is a day invented by greeting card companies to make people feel like crap".

* VorpalPillow: Played for laughs. The two main characters take turns pretending to smother each other, probably as foreplay. Clem calls Joel out for coming out of character too soon.

* NotSoSmallRole: It seems odd that Creator/KirstenDunst has such a small part as the receptionist at Lacuna Inc. [[spoiler:It turns out she had an affair with Howard and had her memories erased too. And it's her who sends everyone their tapes to get their memories back]].

* HardDrinkingPartyGirl: Clementine and Mary often get "amiably drunk" (the latter even smokes pot). Clem and Joel's breakup is prompted by her driving home from a party drunk and damaging Joel's car.

* KaleidoscopeHair: Clementine frequently re-dyes her hair.

* LostLoveMontage: Plot justified, with the memory-erasing procedure causing Joel to relive his memories of Clementine and realize why he fell in love with her in the first place. As part of the {{Deconstruction}}, some downright bitter memories appear as well.

* ManicPixieDreamGirl: Subverted and thoroughly deconstructed with Clementine. As a DeconstructedCharacterArchetype, she shows what happens once the novelty of this trope wears off and the meaning of the term becomes apparent, exhibiting that common elements of the trope would break down when applied to reality.
--> "Too many guys think I'm a concept, or I complete them, or I'm gonna make them alive. But I'm just a fucked-up girl who's lookin' for my own peace of mind; don't assign me yours."
** It's usually inexplicable that the free-spirited girl would be so interested in the quiet, reserved guy in the first place. At the beginning of the movie, it seems like Clementine is fascinated by Joel for no reason, [[spoiler:but it's actually that her subconscious is influencing her with the forgotten remnants of her feelings for him when they were together.]]
** Even during their real first meeting, Clementine quickly gets bored with him. Clearly, unlike the usual MPDG, who's providing comfort to the brooding hero without demanding anything in return, Clementine is shown to be "high maintenance", which Joel struggles to provide.

* NiceGuy: Joel, albeit a little withdrawn both emotionally and romantically.
* NoAntagonist: Joel's challenge is how he can make the memory wiping process stop. Although Stan is the one doing the wiping, he has no idea that Joel has changed his mind.

* NonconformistDyedHair: Clementine is the emotional extraverted ex-girlfriend to everyman protagonist Joel, who is not over their breakup. The multiple hair colors she sports over the course of the film solidify her as a memorable, if unstable, young woman.

* PermaStubble: Joel sports a non-manly variation thereof.

** Many of the "erased" book spines in the book store scene are just books turned around so that they are spine-in instead of spine-out.

* RedOniBlueOni: Clementine and Joel respectively.

The film does have some notable similarities to "Hearts Do Not in Eyes Shine," a short story by John Kessel published in 1983; the said story centers around a couple who had their memories partially erased and follows a similar story progression.

* AnAesop: Loving someone is worth the pain of bad times with them, and ripping them out of your memory is a lot more trouble and pain than remembering them.

** [[spoiler:"Meet me in Montauk."]]
** Joel's choice adjective is "nice." This crops up as a common conversation piece, as a plot point (where [[spoiler:Patrick's accidental use freaks out Clementine as it makes her vaguely remember what was erased]]), and it even appears as a RunningGag:

* DeadPersonImpersonation: A variant -- [[spoiler:Patrick]] takes advantage of his job at Lacuna, Inc. to steal romantic lines and gifts from the materials that patients turn in when they erase someone from their memory, thus impersonating someone who is forgotten but not dead. (Interestingly, the strangeness of his target's emotional reactions to a few of these stolen moves suggest [[spoiler:Clementine resisted the erasure of Joel, too]].)

* FanDisservice: At one point Clementine briefly strips down to her thong, but only to check a (very ugly) bruise she gave herself from slipping on ice.
* FadeToWhite: How the film ends.
* FictionalConstellations: Discussed when Clementine and Joel have their (apparently) first date on a frozen lake at night. Clem asks Joel to point out constellations though he doesn't know any, so he makes one up off the top of his head: Osidious The Emphatic ("Right over there, kind of a swoop and a cross.")

** And when we hear Clementine's tape, the first thing she says about him is that he's "boring." By that point in the movie we've seen a number of scenes of the two of them having fun together. By the time each makes their tape, they're in the breakup phase, so they're probably exaggerating traits that may not have always bothered them or projecting their own insecurities on the other.

* IronicEcho: "I'll be sure to remember that." *memory erased*

** Clementine -- which means [[IronicName "merciful".]] [[spoiler:"Oh my darlin' Clementine... You are lost and gone forever..."]] The fruit may have been part of what led them to make her dye her hair orange, and also informed Joel's nickname for her.

* OldMaid: At one point Clementine freaks out and says, "I'm getting old." Kate Winslet was around twenty seven when the film was made.

* SlipIntoSomethingMoreComfortable: At the beach house Clem mentions "I'm gonna go find the bedroom and slip into something more ... Ruth."

* ValentinesDayVitriol: Jim Carrey's character, Joel, writes in his journal, "Random thoughts for Valentine's Day, 2003: Today is a day invented by greeting card companies to make people feel like crap."

''Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind'' is a 2004 science-fiction [[{{Dramedy}} comedy-drama]] film directed by Creator/MichelGondry, written by Creator/CharlieKaufman and starring Creator/JimCarrey and Creator/KateWinslet (the former in [[TomHanksSyndrome one of his more serious roles]]).

After his declining relationship ends in a serious argument, Joel Barish (Carrey) decides to make up with his now ex-girlfriend Clementine Kruczynski (Creator/KateWinslet). Finding she's changed her number, he desperately follows her to work and, when she treats him like an average customer, he soon learns she dealt with the heartbreak [[ATragedyOfImpulsiveness by undergoing a memory-wiping procedure]]. Since Clem has cut him out of her life altogether, Joel meets with the erasing company and opts to undergo the same procedure in an act of spite.

What follows is a rather surreal journey through his memories, with Joel re-experiencing their entire relationship in [[InMediasRes reverse order]] as erasing company Lacuna Inc. backtracks through his memories to wipe them away in [[TwoLinesNoWaiting an interwoven, current-time B-plot]]. Of course, once Joel becomes consciously aware that he's reliving his fading memories (and those most recent bad memories are fading...), it doesn't take long for him to realize why he fell in love with Clementine in the first place, making him realize he'd rather not forget his connection even as he moves inexorably backwards through his memories towards erasing it completely...

* MaybeEverAfter: [[spoiler: The movie ends with Joel and Clementine discovering that they erased each other. It's left ambiguous as to whether they'll give their relationship another go. They have been destructive in the past and it's likely it could end badly - as it would have in a different ending. But throughout the process, Joel realises he does love her and tries to prevent it, so it's possible they could have learned from their mistakes.]]

* PracticalEffects: Virtually all of the most bizarre and fascinating scenes in this movie were created with old fashioned camera, editing, lighting and prop/set tricks. The use of digital effects was very limited.

After his declining relationship ends in a serious argument, Joel Barish (Carrey) decides to make up with his now ex-girlfriend Clementine Kruczynski (Creator/KateWinslet). Finding she's changed her number, he desperately follows her to work and, when she treats him like an average customer, he soon learns she dealt with the heartbreak [[ATragedyOfImpulsiveness by undergoing a memory wiping procedure]]. Since Clem has cut him out of her life altogether, Joel meets with the erasing company and opts to undergo the same procedure in an act of spite.