question about "Eternal Sunshine"

[joel barish]

I have a question about "Eternal Sunshine"....

Right after the long "intro" where joel and Clementine meet eachother in the train, and right after where joel cries in the car and the credits begin, where Patrick and Stan drives in the car watching Joel, i dont understand what they are doing, how do they know where he lives if he have never been at the institution yet?

That´s the only thing that stills bother me a bit....

[Nicole Fiction]

Okay, the intro is at that very end of the movie. The intro takes place after they've already had their brains erased. They meet again and don't recognize each other. Then it skips to when Joel is getting his brain washed. He's just come from the doctor's office. The rest of the movie takes place as Patrick and Stan are actually erasing Joel's brain.

[thecablegal]

Basically, they show the end of the movie at the beginning, AND at the end. It obviously makes more sense the second time we see it!

[KC8t80]

Everything makes more sense when give it a second thought or look.

[Nicole Fiction]

That's one of the great things about Eternal Sunshine: you can watch it repeatedly and each time get something different out of it. Every time I see it, which I've already seen more times than I'm willing to admit, I notice something else, some other little plot nuance. It definitely benefits from multiple viewings.

[joel barish]

i know that the begining of the movie is actually the end, but what i dont understand is how they knew where Joel lives (right after "the intro"), he havent even been at the clinic yet, that happens afterwards.....

[samurai_cable]

Yeah, I agree. I love re-watching this movie. You can interpret the ending differently, which is cool

[Conor]

ive seen it once.

[asrai]

The time sequences jump around a lot in this movie. I think the scene when they are in the van takes place after he actually went to the clinic. That's the night he takes some kind of sleeping pill, they come in after he's asleep and erase his memory.

[asrai]

Actually, a question I've had is this. When Clem is starting to freak out with Patrick because she knows something is wrong but can't figure out what, she gets upset when he calls her nice, seemingly in response to the beginning when Joel calls her nice... BUT, that whole event doesn't happen until after his procedure and they meet again. So, why the reaction?

[Filomena]

I was confused with that reaction as well. Since she had her memory erased already, why was she acting like this was was deja vu? Nobody else had a deja vu (like Joel, or Mary).

An interesting movie, nonetheless.

[Conor]

i know....i think she never got her mind erased :O :O:O

[samurai_cable]

perhaps there were slight traces that jolted her mind. The procedure might not have been done properly... Actually... now i'm just confusing myself..

[Conor]

me too....AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! i dont know what to think!!!!!!!!!!!!

[asrai]

Joel did react though. That's why he ditched work and got on a train to Montauk. Mary wasn't having those same reactions but she did fall in love again.