Movie Moment and Advice: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

I am not ready to go all the way in to this movie. But I had a few quotes and a small piece of advice associated with these pictures to share.

Clementine: Am I ugly?
Joel: Uh-uh.
Clementine: When I was a kid, I thought I was. I can’t believe I’m crying already. Sometimes I think people don’t understand how lonely it is to be a kid, like you don’t matter. So, I’m eight, and I have these toys, these dolls. My favorite is this ugly girl doll who I call Clementine, and I keep yelling at her, “You can’t be ugly! Be pretty!” It’s weird, like if I can transform her, I would magically change, too.
Joel: [kisses Clementine] You’re pretty.
Clementine: Don’t ever leave me.
Joel: You’re pretty… you’re pretty… pretty… — Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, 2004.

This off-set picture was taken the day that they shot the scene where Clemmy stops the children from making fun of Joel in his memory and hustles him out of there: that is such a great moment. I have always fantasized about being able to do that for people I love, my dearest and best friends, to be able to go back in time to their saddest moments and ease their suffering, do something to take their pain away and help them see that things will get better. But it is not just my friends’ times of despair that I apply this mental exercise to. I do it for me, too.

Sometimes when I find myself haunted by a particularly painful memory, I honestly try to walk backward in my mind and picture a moment of great agony as clearly as I can, and I give my younger self a hug. I promise me it’s going to be okay. Try it. Maybe that’s how you got through it the first time, to begin with.

Am I just a big ol’ girl?

Tags: a confession, advice, candids, clementine, confession, coping, divorce, eternal sunshine, eternal sunshine of the spotless mind, Friendohs, images, It happens, jim carrey, joel, kate winslet, kidlet, love, movie quotes, movies, peace, photography, Pictures, quotes, Self-audit, writing