Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Explained

14th Feb, 2004

Joel wakes up in his bed. Not being an impulsive person, he still decides to skip work and go to Montauk on a whim.

He meets a girl with blue hair in the diner, and the girl waves at him in the station. On the train, Joel and the girl sit nearby. Joel already has a liking for this girl, and upon seeing her, he says to himself, “Why do I fall in love with every girl I encounter?”

While Joel is drawn to the girl nearby in train, the girl approaches him. They make a weird but meaningful connection instantly. Clementine is the name of that girl. We get to know she expresses her personality in a paste. Further, she says she has used many colors on her hair over the years.

Joel comes across as a shy, nice guy, whereas Clementine is bold, beautiful, rebellious, and impulsive.

Having yelled at first, Clementine really likes how Joel treated her here.

14th Feb, 2004 Evening

After getting off the train, Joel is driving his car. He sees Clementine again. It is freezing, so Joel tells Clementine to hop into the car, and he will give her a lift home. Clementine agrees, and after reaching her place, she invites Joel inside. After a brief hesitation, Joel goes inside.

Clementine makes him a drink and plays soft music. Here Clementine says, “Why don’t you drink it? It will make the whole seduction part repugnant.”

By this point, Clementine has clearly grown some affection for Joel. She goes closer to Joel and says, “I am gonna marry you, I know I will.” Probably she has some psychic powers.

Clementine wants to go to the frozen Charles River with Joel sometime. She wants a night picnic.

Clementine wanted Joel to stay at her place for the night. Joel seems a little uncomfortable. Clementine writes her number on his thumb and asks him to call when he reaches home.

She screams, “Wish me Valentine’s Day on the phone, that would be nice.”

Joel seems really happy. Happy music plays in the background.

After Reaching Home:

Joel calls her, and they grow more intimate.

Honeymoon on the Ice:

The next night, they go to the frozen Charles River. They spend a beautiful time there all night.

Next Morning:

Joel and Clementine are in the car. They are coming back home from the night picnic. Clementine wants to sleep at Joel’s house, so the car stops in front of her house. She goes inside to pick up her brush.

That’s when a young guy in his mid-20s approaches Joel. He asks Joel, “What are you doing here?” Joel responds, “What do you mean?”

2 Days Earlier (12th Feb, 2004)

Joel is driving his car while crying like a baby.

He goes inside. His neighbor is asking if he has any Valentine’s plans with Clementine.

He can see from his window that a little micro van is following him across the street, so he pulls down his curtains. He looks really sad and afraid, takes a pink pill, and falls asleep.

3 Days Prior to 14th Feb, 2004

Joel is at his friend’s house, complaining about Clementine. He talks about how she broke up with him, how he went to the library to apologize to her, and how Clementine acted as if she didn’t know him. She is seeing a younger guy. (And we get to see that the young guy is the same young guy who asked him what he was doing in front of Clem’s house.)

This is when his friends break the news and hand him a letter. Joel sees a letter from Lacuna, stating that Clementine has erased Joel from her memory through a scientific procedure.

It doesn’t make any sense to Joel.

At Lacuna:

Joel goes to Lacuna and meets Dr. Mierzwiak and the receptionist, Kate.

Dr. Mierzwiak says Joel is not supposed to see that letter and apologizes. Later on, Joel rushes to Lacuna again, and he wants to undergo the erasure as well.

Dr. Mierzwiak asks Joel to bring everything related to Clementine’s memory. Joel comes up with two huge garbage bags full of things associated with his and Clem’s relationship.

Dr. Mierzwiak and his technician create a mental map of Joel in the clinic.

First Time Joel and Clementine Met:

Joel shares that he was living with Naomi at that time. They were invited to their friends’ house (Rob and Carrie). Naomi couldn’t come, and that’s where he met Clementine for the first time. (Clementine in an orange sweatshirt with green hair)

Dr. Mierzwiak asks Joel to go from Clementine’s most recent memory to the earliest.

They decide they are going to erase Joel’s memory tonight at his house.

What does Clementine’s Hair Tell Us? 

Green Revolution – When Joel and Clem Met first time

Red in Love – Most Beautiful Time Together

Agent Orange – Relationship is Fading

Blue Ruin – After Breaking Up with Joel

Chronological Order and Summary of Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind

Early 2002 – Joel and Clem meets first time

Mid and Up Until Middle of 2003 – Joel and Clementine had the best time

Later half of 2003 to Early 2003 – Relationship Fading Away

Early 2004 – Clementine Breaks up with Joel, dyes her hair Blue

Jan 2003 – Clementine erases Joel’s Memory from Lacuna

Late Jan – Feb 14th, 2004 – Patrick seducing Clem with Joel’s Identity

12th Jan, 2004 – Joel comes to know about Clementine’s Erase

13th Jan, 2004 – Joel erases Clem’s Memory

14th Jan, 2004 – Clementine (Blue Hair) and Joel meet again at Montauk, both have erased memories (Day of the First Scene)

15th Jan, 2004 – Honeymoon on Ice

16th Jan Morning, 2004- They get to know about the erase

16th Jan, 2004 – Decides to give them another chance even after knowing everything that has been done (The Last Scene)

Back to 12th Feb:

He goes inside his building. His neighbor is asking if he has any Valentine’s plans with Clementine.

He can see from his window that a little micro van is following him across the street, so he pulls down his curtains. He looks really sad and afraid, takes a pink pill, and falls asleep.

Two technicians (Stan and Patrick) go inside Joel’s place with all the erasing devices.

Erasing Starts.

Joel in His Head (memory):

It starts from the clinic scene earlier, where Joel’s mental map of Clementine is getting created.

Joel: “I am in my head already, ain’t I?”

In his sleep, in his memory, Joel can hear Patrick and Stan talking in real time. Joel, in his memory, doesn’t entirely understand what is going on, but he can understand that the erasing has started and he is in his head.

“Her name is Clementine and she is amazing.” We see pages from his journal entries in Stan’s hand.

They are erasing Joel’s relationship memories with Clem from last to first.

The Last Time Joel Saw Clementine:

Joel in His Head (memory):

3:00 in the morning. Clem comes back home to Joel’s. Clem has orange hair. (As she said in the train scene, Agent Orange)

In this scene, Joel and a drunk Clementine have a heated argument.

Clementine: “You are freaked out because I was out late without you. And in your little wormy brain…”

They have complete chaos. Clementine leaves the house in the middle of the night. Joel follows her to give her a lift, but to no avail.

This is the last time Joel met Clementine. This was their breakup, actually.

This memory gets erased.

Note: Clementine dyed her hair blue (blue ruin) after this breakup.

Real-Time Scene:

Stan says to Patrick that Mary is going to come over to that place tonight. Mary is the receptionist at the Lacuna clinic.

Upon hearing that, Patrick shares that he is now dating Joel’s ex-girlfriend Clementine and is acting like Joel to seduce her. (Clementine has no recollection of Joel at this point as she has undergone the memory-erasing procedure.)

Joel can hear this in his sleep and can understand how Patrick is taking advantage of Clementine.

In Joel’s Head:

Joel and Clementine are watching TV while eating Chinese food. Clementine is kinda mad at Joel for some reason. Before leaving the house, Clementine ignores Joel’s antics and says, “Should’ve fucking left you at the flea market!”

In Joel’s Head:

Earlier at the Flea Market:

Clementine shares that she wants to have a baby. Joel tells her that they are not ready. Clem says that Joel is not ready. Then Joel asks Clementine if she really thinks she can handle a baby.

This leads to an obvious fight.

Real-Time Scene:

In the next scene, Mary cheers for Joel and all the people that have erased their memories by quoting:

“Blessed are the forgetful

For they get the better

Even of their blunders”

—Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil.

Mary found it in her Bartlett’s (a book of quotes).

What this poem says is that ignorance is bliss. People who are erasing their memories, or people who can forget bad things, are really blessed. As they can do better even out of their mistakes.

Joel in his Head

Clementine is sipping her coffee and lying on Joel’s chest. Orange-haired Clementine complains lovingly that Joel doesn’t share stuff with her, whereas she shares every embarrassing thing. Clementine thinks Joel doesn’t trust her.

In reply, Joel says, “Constantly talking isn’t necessarily communicating.”

Clementine says, “People need to share things; that’s what intimacy is.” “I am really pissed that you said that to me.”

Joel in his Head

November 19th, 2003

Dinner at Kang’s again.

Joel thinks they are the dining dead. He is fed up with the same old boring routine of theirs. He can even guess what Clem is going to utter next.

The scene portrays how Joel and Clementine are getting distant due to not being on the same page. On one side, Joel is kinda bored with the same old routine, and on the other, Clem wants Joel to be more routine and responsible.

Real-Time Scene:

Clementine calls Patrick and says she’s all confused. Patrick says he is going to meet her and cheer her up. At this point, Joel suspects again that Patrick is messing with Clementine as he can hear the conversation remotely in his sleep.

Joel in his Head:

Clementine dyes her hair orange and shows it to Joel for the first time. This is when Joel gives her the nickname “Tangerine.”

Now Joel knows for sure that Patrick is messing with Clementine by stealing his personality. He realizes this when he vaguely remembers Patrick calling Clementine “Tangerine” in a phone call.

Real Time Scene:

Mary and Stan are relaxing, and Mary thinks what Dr. Mierzwiak is doing is amazing, as he’s letting people begin again.

Patrick goes to Clementine’s. She has blue hair here and looks completely lost.

She tells Patrick to go with her to Montauk, then changes her mind and decides to go to Frozen Charles, where she and Joel had their “honeymoon on ice” in the first scenes of the movie.

Patrick opens Clementine’s letter to Joel. It shares their beautiful memory on the frozen lake. Then Patrick gives her the Valentine’s Day present Joel had bought for her.

Clem finds it just her taste and ironically remarks that she’s never gone out with a guy who gave her that kind of jewelry. In the flea market scene, we saw her despising Joel’s taste in jewelry.

It shows how we take our partners for granted in the long run—how even our favorite things become less exciting. Given time, every “Before Sunrise” story becomes “Before Midnight.”

Joel in his Head:

Perhaps the most aesthetically pleasing scene in the movie: Joel and Clementine in an intimate setup. Clementine shares a childhood memory, revealing how she used to think she was ugly and how she’s still insecure. Joel reassures her that she’s beautiful.

Clem begs Joel never to leave her.

At this point, Joel starts regretting the erasure. He starts pleading with Dr. Mierzwiak to keep this memory.

In the Next Scene, we see Joel and Clementine on the frozen Charles. This is the story Clementine’s letter holds.

This is probably one of Joel’s most treasured memories of Clementine, because when the erasure of that memory starts, Joel says, “I want to call it off.”

Joel then starts running with Clementine. Now, Clementine has red hair.

Joel and Clementine try to escape the erasure because Joel doesn’t want to erase these memories or any memories of them anymore. But he can’t call it off, as he is asleep. His mind and unconscious are rebelling against the memory-erasing procedure.

Bear in mind, whatever Clementine is doing here is Joel’s projection of her. It didn’t actually happen in real life earlier. Whenever you see red-haired Clementine, you’ll know it’s Joel’s made-up or altered version of her. There are scenes where it actually happened, but Joel is twisting them so that the memories remain in his mind.

However, in the script of “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” it says Clementine has psychic powers. Maybe Clementine’s mind is communicating with Joel’s. We can’t say for sure, but I’ll provide evidence that might convince you.

Anyway, back to that scene: They’re both running, and we see the happiest Clementine with Joel in memory lanes. Joel is drawing Clementine, smelling her armpits; they’re at the movies, birthday parties—all real-life events.

Joel runs down the happy memory lanes, trying to hide so these memories remain. He returns to an already-erased memory of himself and tells the doctor to wake him up.

Joel is actually making up these scenes in his memory. He doesn’t want to lose Clementine’s memory.

Joel says to the imaginary doctor that Patrick is stealing his identity and seducing Clementine.

Real Life Scene:

Joel’s Brain is Communicating with clem’s

At Charles River, Patrick is uttering the same words Joel said to Clementine a few winters back. Clementine realizes something is wrong and wants to go home.

“In the script of ETSOSM, it says Clementine has psychic powers. Maybe Clementine’s mind is communicating with Joel’s. We can’t say for sure, but I’ll provide evidence to convince you.”

This is the evidence I mentioned earlier. Joel, in his mind, is roaming around with Clem, telling her how he is erasing her memory and how Patrick is stealing his identity. Simultaneously, Clementine realizes in real life that something is definitely wrong with Patrick.

What does this tell us? Both the memory erasure of Joel and the interaction between Patrick and Clementine on the ice are happening simultaneously. I think Joel’s brain is communicating with Clem’s. It fits. Even earlier that night, Clementine is very upset, crying and disoriented for no reason. She’s feeling all these emotions because her mind is on a journey with Joel’s at that time.

In Joel’s Head:

Joel and Clementine are in a forest. For the first time, Joel verbally shares the erasure procedure. Joel says he doesn’t want to lose her memory.

Clem gives him an idea. She tells him to try to wake up so he can ask them to stop the procedure. This happens for a brief second.

Then Joel tells Clementine that he was erasing memories only because she did. Clem says, “You know me; I’m impulsive. I’m sorry.”

Joel responds, “That’s what I love about you.”

When waking up doesn’t stop the erasure, Clementine gives him another idea. She tells Joel to take her to places where the actual incidents didn’t happen, like their bedroom. But now, Joel will think of a place where the erasure team cannot come because they don’t have a mental map of that.

Then Joel thinks of his childhood, and they transcend into that scene. It starts raining. It’s a beautiful moment.

Joel and Clementine continue navigating through Joel’s childhood memories.

Real Time Scene:

Stan finds out that the erasure stops as Joel is “off the map” completely. It means Clem’s plan worked. Stan calls Dr. Howard Mierzwiak in an emergency.

Clem and Patrick are in a car. Patrick imitates Joel and says the word “nice,” which is Joel’s trademark word. Clementine, with blue hair (after erasing Joel from her memory), gets more agitated upon hearing “nice.”

Dr. Howard comes to Joel’s place and is surprised to see Mary. Howard says he has never seen any patient trying to escape the erasure in their unconscious.

It speaks volumes about how much Joel loves Clementine.

Anyway, a long night lies ahead. Howard fixes it the first time, but not for long.

Joel in His Head:

Joel and Clem decide to go under a truck in Joel’s memory to stop the erasure procedure. And it works for the time being.

Real Time:

Eventually, Howard decides to stay, and Stan goes outside for fresh air. Now, it’s just Mary and Howard with a sleeping Joel.

Mary recites Alexander Pope’s poem to Howard:

“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.”

Joel keeps fighting to stop the erasure procedure. He even wakes up another time, and Dr. Howard has to administer a sedative.

One thing leads to another, and Mary kisses Howard and apologizes. Howard’s suspicious wife sees them intimately through the windows.

Howard and Mary

Mary and Howard go outside to calm Mrs. Howard down. That’s when Mrs. Howard reveals how Mary and Howard used to have a relationship. Later on, Mary went through a similar erasure procedure, which is why she doesn’t remember anything about it.

Speechless and broken, Mary starts walking somewhere.

Joel in His Head:

The First Time They Met:

Joel met Clementine for the first time. She has green hair here.

Joel was eating chicken, and he made a Huckleberry Hound joke about Clementine’s name. Clem took a piece of Joel’s chicken.

Joel found it very intimate, as if they were lovers for a long time.

Joel in His Head:

Joel and Clementine keep fighting against the erasure. They go to Montauk Beach and find a deserted house nearby. They reminisce about old memories. This was the house they entered the first time they met at their friend’s party.

That first time, Joel was too afraid to stay there, and he regrets that.

Clem asks, “What if you stay this time?”

Clem tells Joel to give a proper goodbye this time.

At the time of goodbye, Clementine whispers, “Meet me at Montauk.”

She even says, “Remember me, try your best.”

Joel in His Head:

This is at the end of the day Joel met Clem for the first time.

Joel is driving home in his car. His friends ask him about the new girl he met. Every flashback of Joel and Clementine starts flashing before his eyes. This is a beautiful scene. He can see their memories on every aisle and lane.

This is probably the last time he will be able to remember these.

By morning, Clementine’s memory will be completely gone from Joel’s mind.

Real-Time Scene:

From now on everything is happening in real time, linearly.

We’ve returned to the first scene: the morning after the night when Joel’s memories of Clementine were erased. Joel wakes up without any memory of her.

He skips work and goes to Montauk. But he’s not an impulsive person, so why does he do that?

He does it because, even if he doesn’t have any recollection of Clementine, he subconsciously remembers her whispering:

“Meet me at Montauk.”

Clementine even says, “Joel, look at me. You’ll remember me in the morning, and you’ll come to me, and you’ll tell me about us, and we’ll start over. Remember me, do your best.”

Mary and Stan Meet at a Crossroad:

Mary has every patient’s file and CD in her car. She is never coming back to Lacuna. We learn that Howard had an extramarital affair with Mary for a time. She says goodbye to Stan.

What Happens on February 14

We are recapping the first scenes:

14th Feb, 2004

Joel wakes up in his bed. Despite not being an impulsive person, he decides to skip work and go to Montauk on a whim.

He meets a girl with blue hair in a diner, and she waves at him at the station. On the train, Joel and the girl sit nearby. Joel already feels an attraction to her, thinking to himself, “Why do I fall in love with every girl I see?”

While Joel is sketching the girl, she approaches him. They make an odd yet meaningful connection instantly. The girl’s name is Clementine. We learn that she expresses her personality through her hair color, which she has changed many times over the years. Joel comes across as shy and nice, while Clementine is bold, beautiful, rebellious, and impulsive.

Although she yelled at him initially, Clementine really likes how Joel treated her.

14th Feb, 2004 Evening

After getting off the train, Joel is driving his car when he sees Clementine again. It’s freezing, so Joel offers Clementine a ride home. She agrees, and once they arrive, she invites Joel inside. After a brief hesitation, Joel goes in.

Clementine makes him a drink and plays soft music. She says, “Why don’t you drink it? It will make the whole seduction part less repugnant.”

By this point, Clementine has clearly grown fond of Joel. She moves closer to him and says, “I’m going to marry you. I know it.” Perhaps she has some psychic powers.

Clementine wants to go to the frozen Charles River with Joel sometime and have a night picnic.

Clementine wants Joel to stay at her place for the night, but he seems a little uncomfortable. She writes her number on his thumb and asks him to call when he gets home.

She screams, “Wish me a Happy Valentine’s Day on the phone; that would be nice.”

Joel seems really happy. Happy music plays in the background.

After Reaching Home:

Joel calls her, and they grow more intimate.

Honeymoon on the Ice:

The next night, they go to the frozen Charles River. They spend a beautiful time there all night.

Next Morning:

This is where the last 20 minutes of the movie starts.

Ending of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind:

Joel and Clementine are in the car, coming back home from their night picnic. Clementine wants to sleep at Joel’s house, so the car stops in front of her house. She goes inside to pick up her toothbrush.

That’s when a young guy in his mid-20s approaches Joel and asks, “What are you doing here?” Joel responds, “What do you mean?”

Clementine goes inside and looks at her reflection in the mirror. She has a bruise from slipping on the ice last night (Honeymoon on Ice).

She finds a letter and a cassette.

She returns to Joel’s car.

She starts reading the letter. Mary has sent it to her, informing her that her memories have been erased, and that similar letters have been sent to every patient of Lacuna.

Clem and Joel don’t understand what that means.

Now, bear in mind it’s 14th Feb. Joel erased his memories last night, and Clementine did it two weeks ago. They have no memories of each other at this point.

Clementine inserts the cassette. Once it starts playing, we hear her saying mean things about Joel:

“My name is Clementine Kruczynski, and I’m here to erase Joel Barish… he’s boring. Is that enough reason to erase someone? I’ve been thinking lately about how I was before and how I am now, and it’s like—he changed me. I feel like I’m always pissy now. I don’t like myself when I’m with him. I don’t like myself anymore. I can’t stand to even look at him, that pathetic, wimpy, apologetic smile, that sort of wounded-puppy shit he does, you know?”

After hearing that, Joel finds it insane and tells Clem to leave the car.

Clem is heading back to her house when she meets Patrick on the way and screams at him to get the fuck out of there. Then she gets into her car and drives to Joel’s building. Joel’s neighbor says hi to Clementine, but Clem doesn’t remember him because of the memory erase.

Clem enters Joel’s flat. There’s a recording of Joel playing on the cassette.

Clem says hi to Joel. At this point, they are overwhelmed but beginning to understand.

Joel finds his drawing of Clementine and shows it to her. Clementine says, “You made me look skinny.”

Joel apologizes to Clementine for yelling at her. Clem says, “Okay.”

Clem says, “I really like you. I hate that I said mean things about you.”

Then, in the background, Joel is heard saying the meanest things about Clem. Clem can’t tolerate it and leaves the flat. Joel follows her into the corridor and tells her to wait.

Clem says, “Okay. I am not a concept, Joel. I am just a fucked-up girl who is looking for her own peace of mind. I am not perfect.”

Joel responds, “But I can’t see anything that I don’t like about you.”

Clem says, “But you will. You’ll think of things, and I’ll get bored with you and feel trapped because that’s what happens with me.”

Joel replies, “Okay.”

Clem responds, “Okay.”

They decide to give their relationship another chance, even after all of this.

As “Everybody’s Gotta Learn Sometime” plays in the last scene, it’s clear they’ve had a change of heart and are ready to accept each other with all their flaws.

However, in the beach scene, they are running on the ice, all happy, but the scene repeats three times. This suggests they are going to erase each other again and again, and each time, they will fall in love again.

Though it may seem depressing to some, I find it powerful and moving. If you observe closely, each time they start running, they begin from a more advanced position than before. This indicates that after every erase, they’ve improved a little, and this time, they are going to start their new relationship from there.

Even if Joel and Clementine try, they can never be apart. Even after erasing their memories several times, they will keep coming back to each other and make new stories with a change of heart.