Saturday, May 16, 2009

eternal sunshine of the spotless mind

Rosie Thomas - Farewell
Found at bee mp3 search engine

"how happy is the blameless vestal's lot!
the world forgetting, by the world forgot
eternal sunshine of the spotless mind!
each prayer accepted, and each wish resigned.
"

-from alexander pope's poem "eloisa to abelard"

it's saturday afternoon and pouring rain outside my window. i've been cozied up for the last couple of hours watching "eternal sunshine of the spotless mind." a good friend strongly recommended i see this film. it came out in 2004, somehow i missed it back then.
between tears and wow's, i'm left feeling pretty internal. i may watch it again, as most of the movie flowed backwards in time and a second go round would surely make more of the pieces come together.
i will say this, despite all of the hard feelings that can surround the ending of a relationship, this film is a testament that nothing is wasted. no time, no efforts, no love. and to erase someone from memory may seem like an appealing prospect in the height of hurt or anger, but ultimately, it is through the memory of love that we continue to love both backwards and forwards in time, that we continue to learn (god willing), and that we weave together the tapestry of our lives... the beautiful memories are the ones that bring healing and invite us again and again to trust in life.


from the film...

Clementine: This is it, Joel. It's going to be gone soon.
Joel: I know.
Clementine: What do we do?
Joel: Enjoy it.

from the soundtrack...

Beck - everybody's gotta learn sometime
Found at bee mp3 search engine

1 comment:

L. Espenmiller said...

Jessa, this is one of our favorite films. Your post reminds me that it has been awhile since I've pulled it from our shelf. It might do me some good to be with this story again. I remember the first time I watched it, I was simply blown away. Such a rare film. I like how you wrote about it being a testament to no effort being a waste, instead that every effort we make becomes one of the threads weaving the tapestry of our lives.

I'm glad you've discovered this film.