For all its peculiarity, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is one of my favorite celluloid romances. When I learned that writer Michel Gondry had another cerebral sci-fi about a man in love -- with a focus on dreams, no less -- I decided to check it out someday, even if it was reputedly not the next ESotSM.
Stéphane (Gael Garcia Bernal) is tricked by his newly widowed mother into taking a lame job so he'll have a reason to move back into her apartment building. This annoys him, but he does discover something promising about the arrangement: attractive neighbor Stéphanie (Charlotte Gainsbourg), who shares his interest in quirky artistry. If only they weren't both introverts and had the social skills to make it work easily. Stéphane tends to let his imagination run away with him, with difficulty separating dreams, daydreams, and reality....
The film makes the surreal aspects obvious by looking cheap. Prepare for lots of props made of cardboard, cellophane, and other simple craft materials, sometimes animated in stop motion. Nevertheless, some parts, especially late in the story, left me thinking, "Wait, were we supposed to see that as real?" Most likely, Gondry (now also directing) wanted to keep us guessing.
Possibly adding to the dreamy quality of the whole thing is the language issue. It's set in Paris, but as befits the casting, Stéphane has lived mostly in Mexico and struggles with French. As a result, maybe half the dialog is in the (ironic) lingua franca of English, with a little Spanish thrown into private thoughts and a remembered conversation with his father.
Stéphane isn't the only idiosyncratic character. His co-worker Guy acts pretty supportive but perverse, calling two other co-workers gay despite their claimed heterosexual relationship. Stéphane's mom dates a psychology guru, who immediately earns Stéphane's disdain. And before he realizes his attraction to Stéphanie, her friend Zoé gets his attention -- and lies about the work they do.
At his best, Stéphane is creative, funny, and somewhat educative, particularly on the brain and on historical disasters. Toward the end, he is far from his best, behaving in increasingly inappropriate ways that no amount of schizophrenic confusion could excuse. I'm surprised Stéphanie tolerates him as much as she does. The ending leaves their status rather unresolved, which may explain why IMDb doesn't list "Romance" among the genres.
The upshot is very hit and miss. It's only fitfully cute, colorful, or uplifting. The fake scenery loses its charm quickly and brings to mind Gondry's history of music videos. I kept weighing the option to stagger my viewing of 108 minutes over two nights. I can recommend it only to people both highly intrigued by the subject matter and willing to sift the wheat from a lot of chaff.
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