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Targeted memory erasure

Targeted memory erasure is a fictional non-surgical procedure. Its purpose is the focused erasure of memories, particularly unwanted and painful memories, and it is a mild form of brain damage comparable to a "night of heavy drinking." The procedure is performed exclusively by Lacuna Incorporated. The characters of Joel and Clementine used this procedure to erase their memories of each other. As part of the screenwriting and promotion for the film, a backstory for the technology was made, including a spoof website^[3] for "Lacuna, Inc." which is the source for the following information.

Though the procedure in the movie is fictional, recent research has shown it is possible to successfully erase selective memories in lab mice. Such a procedure may lead to cures of post-traumatic stress.^[4]

Depictions of the memories

Throughout the film we see a wide range of film techniques used to depict both the destruction of Joel's memories as well as his transitions from one to another. These range from quite subtle to extremely dramatic:

• The picture quality and sound resolution of the memory simply deteriorate (one example being when Joel talks with his neighbor in the lobby of their apartment building).

• Use of very limited stage lighting (such as when Clementine is pulled away from Joel in the train station).

• Subtle details fade from view (examples of this being when Clementine's name fades away from the Lacuna postcard that Joel has in his hand or when the books in the Barnes and Noble gradually turn white).

• In one case, time and perspective seem to "loop" (the scene where Joel tries to make up with Clementine after she stormed out of his apartment, Joel finds himself unable to get from one end of the street to another – this also combines the elimination of details such as the displays of stores. Also in this scene, we repeatedly see reflections of the lamp in Joel's apartment floating in the air).

• Overt disintegration of the memories (examples of this include the car falling from the sky, the disappearance of a car that Joel and Clementine are in, the disappearance of a fence, a scene where they run through a train station with the people there "winking out", and perhaps most elaborately, the falling apart of the beach house that Joel and Clementine were in).

• Heavy sound and image distortion, faces appearing blank (when Joel and Clementine enter the erased memory of Joel speaking to Dr. Mierzwiak).

• Cycling between the adult actors and their younger selves (when Joel recalls a humiliating memory of being forced by bullies to hit a dead bird with a hammer, the footage switches back and forth between young actors playing Joel and Clementine and Kate Winslet and Jim Carrey. Joel is apparently able to visualize Clementine's youthful appearance because he had seen a picture of her as that when they were still together).

• Scenes of the movie use a trompe-l'œil (or forced perspective) effect, enabling the actors to be seen by the audience as life-sized, yet their characters are existing in a smaller world. (Examples are when Joel and Clementine are in the kitchen sink, or when Joel hides from his mother and a neighbor/Clementine under the table in his memory as a child.)

Frames of reference

There were numerous frames of reference in Eternal Sunshine. One was reality, shown in the group of scenes at the beginning and end of the movie that take place just before, on, and after Valentine's Day. The rest of the scenes could be broadly classified as taking place in Joel's memory, but these can be subdivided into:

1. Memories that Joel gets to relive as if they were really happening (e.g., the date on the frozen Charles River).
2. Memories in which Joel narrates in a voiceover (e.g., the "dining dead" meal).
3. Memories which Joel watches take place and with which he can and does interact.
4. Memories in which Joel is a participant but can "break character" and change the way the scene turns out.
5. Memories in which Joel relives various moments of his childhood with Clementine in the place of one of the people in the memory.
6. Memories where Joel watches them unfold as if they were on a television screen (his conversation with Frank in the lobby of his building)
7. Memories that had been erased and lingered on in a degraded form (e.g., the faceless beings in the Lacuna offices).

Some events that actually took place during Joel's erasure (i.e. technicians Stan and Patrick's conversation about Patrick's stealing Clementine's panties) bleed through to memories Joel is reliving.

Throughout the film, a useful indicator for when a particular event is taking place is Clementine's hair color. Any time she is shown with blue hair indicates something in the present or a memory from the recent past (from about the time of the couple's disengagement). Clementine has green hair during the couple's first encounter, and shortly changes it to red when they become romantically involved. She then changes her hair color to 'tangerine' orange as their disengagement nears.