‘Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind’ is a unique cinematic experience that plays an unsporting game of tug of war between time and memory. Whether you root for Jim Carrey or Kate Winslet’s character, it’s hard not to be saddened by the hard knock of reality on their relationship.
‘Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind’ is a mind-bending treatise of love being an unforgiving and unforgettable force in a world where we would rather not erase all capacity for vulnerabilities. There’s no movie like this, but here are some movies that take place in the same zone of unusual love and surrealist inclinations of mind.
Related: ‘Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind’ Ending Explained
Top 10 Movies Like ‘Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind’
1. Little Fish (2020)
This little-known gem stars Jack O’Connell and Olivia Cooke as the couple fighting to keep their romance alive. As the world experiences a widespread memory loss virus, can they hold on to the history of their courtship?
2. The Science Of Sleep (2006)
Yet another whimsical love story comes from the director of ‘Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind.’ Stéphane (Gael García Bernal) is a man who thinks highly of his dreams and wishes to win the love of his life (Charlotte Gainsbourg) with his serenading imagination.
3. Vanilla Sky (2001)
Similar to ‘Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind,’ this movie is a surreal love story that presents life and love as a perfect picture until it is not. Questioning the true face of love, it features excellent central chemistry between Tom Cruise and Penélope Cruz’s characters.
4. Ruby Sparks (2012)
At times, it feels like Joel imagined Clementine all along. He’s not the first human being to fall in love with an idea of a person, just like Paul Dano’s character in ‘Ruby Sparks.’ Dano plays Calvin, a struggling novelist who writes a muse so well it comes to life.
5. One Day (2011)
Dexter (Jim Sturgess) and Emma (Anne Hathaway) are friends turned star-crossed lovers interrupted by time and space. Life takes them to different places, but love keeps them bonded forever. Also, watch this for Anne Hathaway’s delightful British accent.
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6. The Time Traveler’s Wife (2009)
Love is too powerful a paradox. For better or worse, Henry DeTamble (Eric Bana) is a time traveler. He keeps visiting Clare Abshire (Rachel McAdams), the love of his life, at different times in her life.
7. Love Me If You Dare (2003)
No list about love is complete without something French. Real-life couple Marion Cotillard and Guillaume Carnet play outlandish games that test the limit of their love in increasingly bizarre surroundings.
8. Her (2013)
Joaquin Phoenix stars as Theodore in this futuristic romance between him and the machine (voiced by Scarlett Johansson) he can’t have. Heartbreaking in a hundred different ways, get ready to be devastated by the transience of love, life, and laughter.
9. 500 Days Of Summer (2009)
Like ‘Eternal Sunshine Of A Spotless Mind,’ ‘500 Days Of Summer’ provides a sobering look at a relationship that initially seems great. Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) remembers his ex, Summer (Zooey Deschanel), as he reruns this relationship through his mind. Does he remember how she was or how he thought she was? We’ll never know.
10. Cold Souls (2009)
We are throwing a little-known oddity for all the cinephiles out there. Paul Giamatti feels crippling anxiety from preparing the Chekhov play ‘Uncle Vanya.’ To lessen his suffering, he enlists a company to extract his soul but doesn’t like what he finds out, a similar process to ‘Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind.’
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