Thursday 26 November 2015

What goes down in final scene of "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"?

Joel and Clem seem to get back together at the end, and after that it shows a candid scene of them looping over and over until the final fade to black. The writer intentionally left the movie ambiguous in the first place, so there is no ending set in stone, but I've always thought that, although they rekindle their relationship, they do eventually break up because of their flaws. I don't actually agree with whole "they go back to Lacuna" part, because Mary's discovery and leaving with the documents implies that Lacuna will be hurt by all of their patients' discoveries, which may evoke a decidedly negative reaction as with her. (Of course, I could be wrong, but that's just my view.) The looping scene, in my opinion, symbolizes that they will break up, but also that they will get back together. I've always related this to those on-and-off couples. Maybe somewhere down the line, their flaws will becomes less magnified and a more concrete relationship will abound. Or maybe they are doomed to keep going back to each other, possibly out of true love. They are humans, and being humans, they are prone to repeating something that initially gave them pleasure, regardless of the negative note it will end on. While Joel has the memory erasing process done, he realizes that the good times he had with Clem outdid their breakup; "It's better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all." And who's to say that some time couldn't have occupied the gaps between the loops? Maybe they saw different people to help gain new experiences, and were repeatedly drawn to each other afterwards. They didn't seem that old in the movie, so maybe somewhere down the line, when they've completely matured, they might decide to settle down. Orrrr, maybe it symbolizes that memory lives on, longer than the physical experience, and that candid scene was just an enduring addition to his experiences as they moved on from each other. There's so many different ways one can interpret the ending. :D

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