Final Opening Sequence - Eternal Sunshince of the Spotless Mind

 

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Film opening analysis

After their breakup, the two lovers - Clementine (Kate Winslet) and Joel (Jim Carrey) - each undergo a procedure to erase the memories they made with each other in an attempt to reduce the pain of not being together. The movie implies that our memories are the "spots" that decorate our lives - A spotless mind is one without memory or experience. 

I chose the opening to this movie specifically as the final analysis because of the way the film was organized - non-linear storytelling. Instead of following the constriction of time, the way the scenes are ordered reflects fragments of memories which enhances the idea of the beauty of memories and happiness in the past. This detail inspired greatly and I hope to somewhat adapt it into my media text. 

The movie begins with a slow-paced, short melody building up in the background matching the blurry transition of the name of the production company which appears in the center of the screen: Focus Features. From a black screen, a character slowly comes into vision laying his head on a pillow. As he sits up from the bed, it can be decoded that he isn’t well-rested, encoded through the tired expression along the movement of massaging his forehead with his hand. This may hint that he didn’t get enough sleep the night before, which may raise enigma codes as to why. The frustration encoded through the action of kicking the blanket as well as the hesitation of standing up from the bed shows that he does not want to leave just yet. However, some hints of rush and excitement is also encoded by the quick-pacing in his movement, raising enigma codes: maybe something is supposed to happen today?

As the character tries his best to get up, the audience gets to have a better view of the room in which he is in through a long shot. In contrast to the man’s current emotions, the room connotes a sense of peace and discipline. This can be decoded by how everything is placed neatly in their position, including: the props placed upon the shelves; closely packed books in a cupboard. From this information, it can be decoded that the character is clean and likes things in a certain order. This scene is put under a coat of blue hue, which overall gives it a sense of loneliness and abandonment. This feeling is further substantiated by the deepened tone of the same color of the sleepwear that the character is wearing. Throughout the scene, a slow, non-diegetic jazz-like melody plays in the background creating atmosphere. It provided a sense of softness and melancholy which may suggest sadness to the storyline or narrative. 

A straight cut leads the viewer to a more open area of a car park. The man is seen walking towards his car before stopping abruptly in his tracks - reacting to a surprising event of his car being damaged. By observing the clothes worn by the character, it can be assumed that the weather is chilly, since he has a long coat.

He looks to the car beside his, encoding that he is suspicious of the owner of the other vehicle for causing the breakage; subsequently, he looks up and then down, expressing some sort of realization and anger which raises enigma codes as to why and what was the information that he received from looking above. After this, a jump shot shows the man putting a note behind the windshield wiper of the other car before another jump shot depicts him entering his and backing away.

The camera then zooms into the piece of paper saying: "ThankYou!". This raises enigma codes once again as it evokes curiosity of the audience, wanting to know what led to the main character feeling the need to leave a note.

A long shot introduces the audience to a new setting of a train station with people looking to their left, encoding that their train is supposed to come from this side. Simultaneously, we see another train arriving on the other path of the station. From a high angle shot, the character starts running, almost frantically, towards the other side as if he is acting impulsive. From this part, a non-diegetic voice-over (supposedly of the man) starts speaking saying: “I ditched work today”. As the monologue continues aligning to the man’s actions as if they are his current thought, it can be decoded that his words are phrased as if being shared with someone - similar to a conversation.

The way the man tried his hardest to fit himself through the closing door of the train encodes dedication and devotion to his choice of not going to work; along with that, the voice-over says: “I’m not an impulsive person” - this shows that the action is completely out-of-character for the man and makes us wonder why he is acting such way. 

Another change of place with the man, which we now know is Joel, standing next to a phone booth calling who can be assumed is his co-worker Cindy lying about his health status, all from a wide angle. The area is made to look significantly colder than the previous shots with snow and wind blowing strongly. As Joel sits at the beach, he brings out a notebook that contains the leftover of a page that was ripped off, which Joel “Don’t remember doing that”. This detail raises enigma codes, possibly about some kind of problems with Joel’s memories. A straight cut depicts Joel hanging by the shoreline where he notices the presence of a stranger. Unlike most extras, the stranger was shown more closely for the audience in an insert shot, encoding that the viewers may want to pay attention to her and she may have some effects upon the narrative. “Seeing that I’m incapable of making eye contact with a woman I don’t know” (voice-over of Joel) encodes that he is shy and scared of interaction, specifically towards women. Joel's voice over states: "Maybe I should get back together with Naomi" while peeking through a window into a house. This encodes that Naomi and Joel are past-lovers, and that Joels is considering to be with her once again, raises curiosity of the viewers as to why (enigmatic code), as well as the fact that he knows this house or the people who lived here, and subtly suggests he has been here before. The sequence ends with Joel saying "She loved me", which appears to be odd, as though Naomi was the only that was in love in their relationship.