Architecture in cinema is one of the most crucial and subtle factors in enriching plot narratives. Director Michel Gondry’s 2004 film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind explores this by interconnecting psychology, technology and emotional states. Written by Charlie Kaufman, the film creates visual and narrative parallels that reflect the protagonists’ internal and external states. The various sets and locations further explore the primary underlying theme of the fluidity of memory and how emotional depth can be studied from physical interpretations of the conscious and subconscious mind.
Set and Spatial Design in The Film
The premise of ‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’ is essentially how the protagonists Joel Barish and Clementine navigate Joel’s subconscious mind during a procedure that deletes memories. Joel’s character, played by Jim Carrey decides to undergo this process to erase the memory and existence of his girlfriend Clementine from his mind, played by Kate Winslet. The film uses the set design to visually represent this process, which is represented by the gradual decay of the environments significant to Joel and Clementine. As Joel re-experiences and then begins to forget his memories and the existence of Clementine, the spaces around them gradually turn into ruins.
An interesting manipulation of architecture in the film is how the director and set designers morph the physical spaces representing Joel’s mind. Amidst the chaos and deterioration of his memories, he tries to make sense of his memories, moving seamlessly from one location to the next, irrespective of logic and geography. Gondry’s use of in-camera transitions and interesting cinematography helps enhance this fluidity. This additionally emphasises how memories are often non-linear and interconnected, irrespective of location and logic, as seen in how characters seamlessly walk from a beach into a far-away bookstore.
The colour palette in the scenes within Joel’s memories reflects his diminished emotional states, with an increasingly vibrant colour palette in scenes involving Clementine, representing her influence on Joel. The use of colour becomes particularly poignant as memories fade, with bright hues dimming and spaces becoming washed out, mirroring the erasure process. Lighting is also used to great effect in the film, with natural light often symbolising clarity and truth. In contrast, artificial light is used in scenes of memory erasure, creating a stark and unsettling atmosphere.
Familiarity, Comfort, and Their Emotional Representations
The protagonist, Joel’s apartment is a physical representation of his inner world, recurrently visible in the film representing the character’s psyche and his inner/outer safe space. Initially, it is a messy, disorganised and chaotic space reflecting his mellow, depressed and introverted personality. As the procedure begins, the space becomes even more chaotic and fragmented, reflecting the unravelling of his psyche. This can be seen through the gradual fading of objects and their associated memories.
Clementine’s apartment, in keeping with her personality, is vibrant, artistic and quirky. The colour palette is bold and bright, representing her vibrancy and unpredictability in contrast to Joel’s orderly and mundane home. The differences in their personal spaces underscore the contrasts in their characters and highlight the initial attraction and eventual friction between them.
Memory and Surreal Architecture
As Joel’s memories are systematically erased, the architecture within these memories becomes increasingly surreal. One of the most memorable sequences involves Joel hiding Clementine in various childhood memories to avoid losing her. These scenes are marked by a dreamlike quality, with distorted proportions and illogical spatial relationships. For example, a childhood kitchen becomes a vast, echoing void, and a bed appears on a sandy beach.
The juxtaposition of the mundane and impersonal design of Dr. Howard Mierzwiak’s clinic against the surreal architecture of the spaces in Joel’s mind emphasises the weight of romance, its complications, its merits and demerits: the simple yet boring against the painful but beautiful. This contrast can also be seen in the differences in complexity and detail in the clinic versus Joel and Clementine’s memories.
Public Spaces in The Film
Certain locations in the film, pertinent to Joel and Clementine’s relationship, are integral to the plot and the interconnectedness of memory and their relationship. The bookstore where Clementine meets Joel is one such example, its narrow aisles and shelves represent the complexity and unpredictable nature of Clemetine’s personality. The scenes in the bookstore are intimate yet claustrophobic, similar to the nature of their relationship. The beach, in contrast, signifies new beginnings and potential, a place where Joel and Clementine’s relationship begins anew. As the memories begin to fade, the beach scenes have a distorted feel portraying confusion, chaos and disorientation. An instance of this can be seen in the sea consuming their memories, symbolising a gradual fading of their shared experiences.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is yet another chapter in the book of clever implementation of set design and architecture in storytelling and narratives. It explores the mind’s connection to emotion and architecture in creating and building memories. Through the use of personal and public spaces, Gondry uses a physical representation of the characters’ memories to build the narrative and understand the characters’ psyche.
References:
- Edinburgh’s New Town (2005) The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2005/mar/07/architecture.regeneration (Accessed: 20 May 2024).
- (PDF) depictions of architectural spaces in film. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/247774050_Depictions_of_Architectural_Spaces_in_Film (Accessed: 20 May 2024).
- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, 2004, Netflix
