In the opening scenes of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind we see Joel and Clementine meet for what looks like the first time. The scene starts with a close-up of Joel waking up. A depressing score plays and we hear Joel’s voiceover narration. This gives the spectator the feeling that Joel is talking to them. He tells us about the beach and how it is always freezing, which gives us the impression that Joel mainly focuses on the negative things in life. The tone of the score also gives us that impression of Joel as it is very low beat and the lighting is also very dark around Joel which again gives the impression of depression.
Joel’s world suddenly lights up when he first sees Clementine which implies that she is quite a happy person, the complete opposite of Joel. Also the score changes dramatically when Clementine talks to Joel on the train: it becomes more upbeat and a lot happier.
Joel dresses in a way that enables him to blend into the background, which gives the spectator the impression that Joel is not an outgoing person, nor very confident; whereas Clementine’s clothes are bright and colourful, making her stand out from everyone else, giving the impression that she is very confident. We also see confidence in Clementine when she immediately starts talking to Joel on the train as if she has known him her whole life. Even though Joel and Clementine are complete opposites and they have nothing in common, there seems to be an instant connection between them both, which as we find out later in the film is because they have met each other before but they do not remember it.
A very significant part of the opening scenes is the ‘ice picnic’ scene, in this scene the score is almost a mix of both of their own scores from the start which creates a romantic atmosphere. This is because when two people are very close we start to see them almost as one person. So when the scores mix, it could be a metaphor for them becoming one person.
We see Joel drop Clementine off at home, and while he waits for her we see Patrick knock on the window. He is obviously confused by Joel’s presence, because Patrick helped to clear Clementine's memory of all memories of Joel. The spectators do not know this yet, but because of this, he does not understand why Joel is with Clementine.
It then fades to black and we see Joel in his car crying, the score turns very frantic as Joel drives home. These is when we see the opening credits which are unlike the usual centre-based opening credits and are on the right-hand side. Also unlike usual opening credits, the opening credits in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind do not begin until at least twenty minutes into the film and after much of the action and plot. In addition, the text in the opening credits appears quickly and then slowly withers away, like a memory. This is very significant as the film is about Joel and Clementine losing their memories of each other.
We then enter Joel’s apartment, which is very dark and depressing. The score changes yet again as we see him change into the pyjamas the memory clinic have sent him and we see him taking a pill. We then realise that the pyjamas that Joel just newly opened are the same pyjamas that he woke up in. This makes us think that perhaps this is the real start of the film and we realise that the first scene is really the end of the film. We chose to analyse this opening as it uses a voiceover which is an element we want to use and also the start of the film is really the end of the plot which is how our film starts.
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