Michael Gondry’s unique directing tactic while filming ‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’: “I had to talk to Kate in a different room”
All directors have a completely different approach when it comes to drawing the right performance from their actors.
Stanley Kubrick sometimes opted for forms of emotional torture, with the story of Shelley Duvall’s experiences on The Shining going down in history. For others, complete accuracy is key, with Noah Baumbach and David Fincher sometimes making their actors perform 30 different takes in order to get it exactly how they want it. Or maybe it’s Greta Gerwig and Jordan Peele, who focus on fun and freedom to encourage their actors to put their own stamp on a scene and find authenticity in each moment.
But for Michael Gondry, it seems as though mind games were a crucial part of his approach when it came to the creation of his heartbreak masterpiece, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. The film is a jumble of conflicting moods and tones, all reflecting the mess of a breakup and the many ups and downs that come with it.
One day, you might be crying about a pivotal moment within the relationship and how great it was, and the next you might be full of rage about all the red flags and hideous arguments that slipped you by. It’s a cacophony of emotional chaos that will rip you to shreds before mending you back together again, with Gondry’s direction on set reflecting this madness.
Many people have puzzled over what kind of film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is, with some moments that make it feel like a comedy, others that make it feel like a tragedy, and others that make it feel like a bizarre action-adventure flick taking place inside someone’s mind. It’s a tonal quality that manifests in the performances from Kate Winslet and Jim Carrey, with the characters often clashing in their underlying mood, with scenes where Clementine is almost manic while Joel is very subdued and melancholic.
However, it turns out that this was created through a specific trick that Gondry adopted while filming, with the director describing how he would give contradictory direction to both actor, saying, “I had to talk to Kate Winslet in a different room to tell her, ‘Go as big as you want! This is a comedy!’ And to Jim, ‘This is drama, not comedy”.
Interestingly, this creates the perfect clash between both characters, with a jarring dissonance at the heart of the film that perfectly captures the very real consequences of a breakup on the mind. Part of you might be feeling devastated, while the other lives in a permanent state of limbo, remaining stuck in the past and reflecting on the good bits while ignoring the bad. Even though the relationship might be over, you choose to ignore this fact, instead reminiscing on when it was still alive.
It’s a fascinating mood that marks Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind as one of the greatest films about heartbreak, with the performances from Carrey and Winslet reminding us of our own failed romances and the ones that persist in spite of the the chaos they bring.
