93. Niet of Nooit Geweest &...

Lyrics

Ik zie twee mensen op het strand 

(I see two people on the beach)
Vlak bij het water, hand in hand

(Near the water, holding hands) 
De zon zakt, ze zwijgen van geluk

(The sun sets, they are silent out of happiness) 
Ik ken haar net, want dat ben jij 

(I just know her, because that's you)
Ze lacht naar hem, hij lijkt op mij 

(She smiles at him, he looks like me)
Maar dat kan niet, want ik maak alles stuk

(But that cannot be, because I ruin everything) 
Ik kan die jongen toch nooit zijn 

(I cannot actually be that boy)
Die rust, die liefde, niets voor mij

(That calmness, that love, it's just not me) 
Maar waarom lijkt het dan toch zo vertrouwd?

(But why then, does it seem so familiar) 
Ik heb je lief, zoals je ziet 

(I love you, as you see)
Maar ergens klopt er hier iets niet

(But something isn't right here) 
Ik draag een ring maar 'k heb jou nooit getrouwd 

(I wear a ring, but I've never married you)

Ik ben mezelf niet 

(I am not myself)
Of al die jaren nooit geweest

(Or haven't been it in all those years) 
Ik ben de gangmaker op het verkeerde feest

(I am the moodsetter at the wrong party) 
Ik ben mezelf niet of nooit geweest

(I am not myself, or have never been it)
Ik ben mezelf niet of nooit geweest 

(I am not myself, or have never been it)

Ik zie twee mensen, ze gaan staan 

(I see two people, they are standing)
Ze draait zich om, we moeten gaan 

(She turns around, we must go)
Kijk in me ogen en zie dezelfde pijn

(Looks in to my eyes, and I see the same pain) 
Twee mensen eerder al verbonden 

(Two people connected once before)
Al die verliefdheid, wat een zonde 

(Al that infatuation, what a waste)
We zijn het allebei maar willen het niet zijn 
(We are both it, but we don't wanna be it)
Ik ben mezelf niet 

(I am not myself)
Of al die jaren nooit geweest

(Or haven't been it in all those years) 
Ik ben de schoenmaker bij de verkeerde leest

(I am doing the wrong profession) 
Ik ben mezelf niet of nooit geweest

(I am not myself, or have never been it) 
Ik ben mezelf niet of nooit geweest
(I am not myself or have never been it)

Oh, laat het de zon zijn (laat het de zon zijn)

(Oh let it be the sun)
Oh, laat het het strand zijn

(Oh, let it be the beach) 
Laat het de zee zijn 

(Let it be the sea)
Laat mij iets doen nu

(Let me do something now) 
Waardoor je mij nooit meer wilt zien

(So you wouldn't want to see me ever again) 
O, laat het het zout zijn (laat het het zout zijn)

(O let it be the salt)
Laat het mijn allerdomste fout zijn

(Let it be my stupides mistake) 
Maar laat me dit nooit meer vergeten 

(But don't let me ever forget this)

Nooit meer vergeten 
(Never forget this)

laat me dit nooit meer vergeten, bovendien 

(Let me never forget this, above all)

Ik ben mezelf niet of al die jaren nooit geweest 

(I am not myself, or haven't been it in all these years)
Ik ben mezelf niet of al die jaren nooit geweest 

(I am not myself, or haven't been it in all these years)
Ik ben mezelf niet of nooit geweest

(I am not myself, or have never been it)
Ik ben mezelf niet of nooit geweest)

(I am not myself, or have never been it)

Ik ben mezelf niet of nooit geweest

(I am not myself, or have never been it)

Ik ben mezelf niet of nooit geweest

(I am not myself, or have never been it)

This is basically Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind in song form. This is just a coincidence, as this song is written in 1998, six years before the movie, and Jim Carrey and co. most probably never heard this song. You never know though. Maybe Charlie Kaufman is an Acda & De Munnik fanboy. I am just kidding of course, but it may be quite silly to dismiss Acda & De Munnik as just another decent Dutch group. I feel that this is one of those times, when the conceit of this blog has been genuinely insightful. Acda and de Munnik may be more interesting, than I (and others) think they are. This is the second song of theirs I discuss on this blog; the first one I linked to Seconds.  My links are obviously not perfect, but all of them do make some sense. Any band whose songs can be linked to Seconds and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is not to be dismissed. Their songs contrast rather interestingly between form and content. Their music is jolly and poppy, while their lyrics are quite a bit unsettling. Both this song and the previous one deal rather interestingly with (loss of) identity and memory. 

The Movie: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry, 2004)

This is in some ways a typical Charlie Kaufman move. It has a wonderful original screenplay full of interesting twists. It deals with the 'behavior' of our minds, and how our identities and memories are shaped, both by ourselves and by others. Yet in many other ways this is a very atypical Kaufman movie. I have not seen Human Nature and Synecdoche, New York, but based on what I know of them they appear to be share the same outlook on life as movies like Being John Malkovich, Adaptation and Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. This are all grim, dark movies that are very cynical about human nature. Most of their characters are very unpleasant, and sometimes downright vile people. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is not such a movie. (This is by the way neither a compliment nor a criticism. It's just an observation. I think Being John Malkovich is a better movie than this one, but this is a better film than Adaptation, and a far better one than George Clooney's directing debut). This movie works partly because Joel (Jim Carrey) and Clementine (Kate Winslet) are genuinely nice people we care about. They also feel like very real people. Carrey and Winslet seem to have gotten the freedom to make their characters very specific and to add to them whatever they want to. As a result both Joel and Clementine come of as characters who are not held back by movie conventions. Carrey and Winslet are allowed to play their characters if they are real people, who just happen to be in this movie. The joy they have in doing this is palpable, and it transfers to the audience. Apparentlythis is Kate Winslet's favorite role of hers, and that's not a surprise. It's also her (and Carrey's) best. It's quite a shame she has never really gotten a similar role, and I can only imagine how bored she is by the fact that she is now asked to play dull teachers in dull young adult sci-fi such as Divergent, or depressed mums in Labor Day. 

The movie would have been a lot of fun, even if was just these two characters in a rather straightforward rom-com. But that's where Charlie Kaufman comes in. Anyone could probably think of the basic concept of this movie. The idea that you might lose some of your most important memories that have very much, for better or worse, shaped the way you are today is such an obviously disquieting and dramatic one that it is quite strange that there haven't been more movies like this. That when in pain some people might really want to, is a slightly more interesting insight, but also one that's very obvious. What Kaufman, and Gondry do well is to present this all in a very matter of fact, and funny way. Lancuma, the memory erasing corporation, functions very much like an ordinary, rather dull, corporation. What the employees are doing is quite spectacular, but the way in which they are doing it is kind of dull and monotonous. The Tramp from Modern Times would basically be just as bored doing mind erasing as working on a conveyor belt. The contrast between the real world and the world of Carrey's memories is pretty enormous. His memories are very imaginatively presented. A good example for this are the two brilliant, and quite moving, scenes where we see the adult Jim Carrey remembering his youth. Even better is the reason for why he is doing this. 

Beyond the fact that this screenplay is so original, it is also brilliantly constructed. The circularity of the movie is greatly important here. Often a movie that begins with its final scenes, or in media res, does this, because it's a lazy and effective way to build drama and intrigue. I usually fall for it, and quite like such movies, but that's not the point here. Here the circularity is a necessity, because if it would begin in a chronological order we would care much less about the characters. The movie only works so well, because we get to know Joel and Clementine, and care about their relationship, before Joel starts the procedure to erase Clementine from his mind. Because when Joel starts erasing Clementine from his memory, we first see his last memories of her, just before they broke up. In these scenes both of them are just very unpleasant, and we see nothing of their love. If one would start with these scenes, it would in fact be quite unbelievable that these characters could ever possibly love each other, especially considering they are being played by Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet, at first sight, a very unfitting romantic couple. Thus we would care much less about it all when Carrey changes his mind about the whole erasing thing, and he tries to change/hide his memories in order to defeat the erasers. Scenes, like the previously mentioned ones, in which Carrey memorizes his youth would play much more like zany scenes from a not very successful Jim Carrey sci-fi comedy. 

I also simply love that by opening with the final scenes Kaufman makes us care about the saving of a relationship that hasn't factually happened yet. It's quite genius viewer manipulation. Also genius is the subplot involving Kirsten Dunst and Tom Wilkinson. That helps us understand without the use of dumb exposition why Joel and Clementine get back together. It shows after all that Lacuna's procedure may erase the memories of a love, but not the feelings. If the ex-lovers meet again they might develop feelings for one another again. Which means that while that plot point is resolved tragically, within the larger frame of the story this is a hopeful plot point. This is again ingeniously manipulative.