Parents' Guide to

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

By Nell Minow, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 16+

Imaginative, loopy romance has mature themes, profanity.

Movie R 2004 110 minutes
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

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age 13+

Based on 17 parent reviews

ContentFlag
ContentFlag Adult
September 1, 2022
age 14+

Rated 14 (strong language, drug use, scene of implied sexual activity).

MAIN CONTENT ISSUES - There is some use of strong language ("f*ck"), as well as use of milder terms. There is one brief scene in which it is strongly implied a man is masturbating, including sight of the bed covers moving as he moves his hand up and down, and he is heard moaning in pleasure. There is also brief sight of an erotic drawing that he is masturbating to. There is drug use in a scene where two characters smoke marijuana, and are subsequently seen high in a few later scenes. | OTHER ISSUES - The film is thematically mature and contains some potentially upsetting scenes. There are occasional moderate verbal sex references. There are visual references to bullying in one scene and, in the same scene, a young boy is pressured to hit a dead bird multiple times with a hammer. | RATED "14" - Suitable only for persons aged 14 years and over. Contains content not recommended for viewing by any person below the age of 14.
Clintzen08
Clintzen08 Parent
June 26, 2022
age 12+
See all 17 parent reviews

What's the Story?

Joel (Jim Carrey) is trying to work through the pain and sorrow of his recently ended relationship with Clementine (Kate Winslet). When he realizes that Clementine underwent a procedure to have all her memories of her time with Joel completely removed, he meets with the company that performed the procedure and decides that he wants the exact same thing. But as the process begins, and as he re-experiences these memories he shared with Clementine, he begins to have second thoughts. With Clementine's help, he begins to take control of the memories as a way to try and preserve as much as he can from his time with her, and even as these memories begin to fade away, Clementine and Joel work to figure out a way in which they can meet again, in spite of their clean slates.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (17 ):
Kids say (28 ):

This fabulously imaginative and deliciously loopy romance is the sweetest movie yet from the magnificently twisty mind of writer Charlie Kaufman. He plays with the themes of identity, time, memory, and attraction in a slightly off-kilter world that seems oddly home-like and familiar. Shot in a style that is both gritty and dreamy, the movie's insinuatingly casual tone gently nudges the concepts along so it almost begins to make more sense than real life.

Carrey and Winslet risk making their characters as maddening to us as they are to each other and are ultimately as irresistible, too. Mark Ruffalo, Tom Wilkinson, and Kirsten Dunst are impeccable, providing a bittersweet counterpoint of imperfection and longing. Director Michel Gondry matches Kaufman's script with understated but brilliantly original imagery of memory and forgetting.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about which memories they might think about erasing and which ones they will always make sure to keep. They might also like to look up the meaning of the word "lacuna," talk about some of their favorite quotations, and read some of the brilliant poetry of Alexander Pope.

  • How is the nature of memory explored and shown throughout the film? Does the disjointed nature of some of the scenes mirror your own attempts to remember moments from your life?

  • Did the drug and alcohol use in the movie seem gratuitous or a realistic reflection of what these adult characters did in their lives?

Movie Details

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