It began with a dinner in London. The artist Pierre Bismuth told his friend, director Michel Gondry, about an idea he had for a conceptual art piece. What if you received a letter saying you had been erased from someone’s mind and you were not to contact them ever again? At the same time, Gondry discovered Charlie Kaufman’s “Being John Malkovich” original screenplay. Gondry, who at one point believed all screenplays are “boring by definition,” found Kaufman’s work daringly original. The two soon met to discuss working together.
While Kaufman spent more than three years writing “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” Gondry made his directorial debut with another Kaufman script, “Human Nature.”
Michel Gondry has reached a level of celebrity and awe usually reserved for underground rock musicians and indie movie stars after he furiously directed some of the most visually and conceptually brainbusting music videos to ever grace a television set. Gondry’s exciting work with the Chemical Brothers (“Let Forever Be,” “Star Guitar”), the White Stripes (“Fell In Love With A Girl,” “Seven Nation Army”), Beck, Kylie Minogue, the Foo Fighters and a host of others saw him labeled a genius by music lovers and critics alike. And his audience and influence have grown considerably since the recent release of a DVD compilation of his work, which includes a few masterful short films and commercials. In response to questions regarding his shift from music videos to film, Gondry can only say, “I don’t know what to say except it’s very hard to do the transition to movies.”
Kaufman had his own troubles with “Eternal Sunshine,” postponing it and almost quitting completely when “Memento” hit the big screens.
“It was the same idea, telling a story backwards,” said Kaufman. Kaufman has since received the same sort of admiration and fan base as Gondry by working with director Spike Jonze on “Being John Malkovich” and “Adaptation.” But Kaufman still didn’t know how his work with Gondry would be received.
“I wasn’t expecting anything, but there turned out to be a kind of bidding-war situation,” he said.
During the time that his and Jonze’s films rose to the status of modern classics, Kaufman earned a reputation for being reclusive and extremely introverted. But this seems unfounded when he is with Gondry. The two of them riff off each other constantly, acting like two kids eternally bent on making fun of each other. Kaufman constantly feels it’s his job to help others wade through Gondry’s thick French accent by rephrasing and explaining for his friend, sometimes answering questions for Gondry completely. Gondry constantly quizzes Kaufman, seemingly digging for information. A typical exchange between the two filmmakers sounds like this:
Charlie: I made a lot of movies as a kid. I was really interested in theater and writing comedy, but then I got really embarrassed about that aspect of my life and self-conscious. So I went to film school to become a director, but I went to film school and became a director.
Michel: What did you study in film school?
Charlie: We studied you.
Michel: I was not existing then.
Kaufman’s nervous energy and Gondry’s lax and stumbling badgering would compel you to believe they were lifelong friends. It’s obvious that these two find inspiration in each other’s presence as well as each other’s work, and the mutual admiration comes across beautifully onscreen.
“Eternal Sunshine” follows the story of Joel, played by Jim Carrey. Joel is nervous and awkward and very real. He is someone riding next to you on the subway. When Joel meets the wild and unique Clementine (Kate Winslet, “Titanic”), he falls instantly in love. But as the couple’s relationship is bent to the breaking point, Clementine has her memories of Joel erased. And Joel then decides instead of living in pain to do the same.
The film’s basis is a reversal of a normal relationship. Gondry explains, saying: “You tend to only remember that bad memories which generally come last. So when you dig into the past you find sweeter moments: the heart of the relationship. So that’s what a relationship backward would be like.” And the audience can understand because we are buried so deeply within Joel that we are basically surfing his subconscious.
“I see the world as completely subjective and don’t want to lie about that,” Kaufman said about his decision to tell the story from within Joel’s mind. But working within a person’s mind held separate ramifications for Gondry’s vision.
“I wanted the general flavor of effects to be in-camera. Synching the sound and changing the color of the light. If you don’t take the chance to do it while you shoot and you do it in post, you’re just not involved in the same way and it’s just not risky enough. And this risk really means something to you,” said Gondry. “It’s the things that you can’t control that make it graceful.” And the effects pay off as smoothly as Kaufman’s script. As Joel traverses his memories, the audience witnesses a very striking display of images, from shelves of disappearing books to cars falling from the sky.
“Interesting transitions become a necessity when showing a person travel through memories. I didn’t want transitions to become too technical and get into trouble in editing. Editing is where the movie exists. If you don’t have the flexibility to cut things or add things, then you’ll be in trouble,” Gondry said. And Gondry’s style is steeped in artful discontinuity, more akin to Jean-Luc Godard than any recent Hollywood release.
To some, “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” will be a bolt through the heart, an instant revelation. But others will find the editing and storyline confusing. Some people will say that Carrey’s acting is dull, and Kaufman’s reveries within deeply subjective contexts will send less open-minded viewers home in a hurry. But Kaufman isn’t worried.
“I’m trying to do what I’m trying to do and I’m trying to do it sincerely. I’m fine with people having different opinions about it. I’m not in the business of trying to convince people to like my stuff. If everybody liked what I did, I’d probably think there was something wrong with what I was doing,” he said, quietly adding with a smirk, “I welcome their disdain.”
