Starring Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet, with supporting roles from Kirsten Dunst, Mark Ruffalo, Elijah Wood and Tom Wilkinson, the film follows two individuals who undergo a memory erasure procedure to forget each other after the dissolution of their romantic relationship.

[1] Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind opened in theaters in the United States on March 19, 2004, to widespread acclaim from critics and audiences, who hailed the visual style, editing, writing, score, themes, direction and performances, especially of Carrey and Winslet.

Joel Barish discovers that his estranged girlfriend, Clementine Kruczynski, has undergone a procedure to have her memories of him erased by the New York City firm Lacuna.

The concept of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind came from conversations between director Michel Gondry and co-writer Pierre Bismuth in 1998.

"[29] He eventually decided on Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, a title originating from the 1717 poem Eloisa to Abelard by Alexander Pope.

[31][32] The shooting of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind began in mid-January 2003 after six weeks of preparation,[33][34][35] lasting for three months on a budget of $20 million mostly in and around New York City.

[35] The production crew recreated some key scenes, such as Joel's Rockville Centre apartment and the 1950s-style kitchen, in a New Jersey former U.S. Navy base.

[36] The shoot was challenging for cinematographer Ellen Kuras, due to the difficulty of filming Gondry's vision, which aimed to "blend location-shoot authenticity with unpredictable flashes of whimsy".

[35] The film used minimal CGI, with many effects accomplished in-camera through forced perspectives, hidden space, spotlighting, unsynchronized sound, split focus and continuity editing.

[8] Executing this effect was difficult, as the special team hired to place the set in the water refused due to perceived dangers.

[26] The soundtrack for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was composed by Jon Brion, also featuring songs from artists including The Polyphonic Spree, The Willowz and Don Nelson.

[43][44][45][46] Author Carol Vernallis, writing in Screen, argued that Gondry's experience in directing music videos contributed to the film's mise-en-scène and sound design.

[48] Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind has been aligned with a greater inspection, distinctly related to the 21st century, of memory, longing and nostalgia in science fiction films like Code 46 and 2046.

[50] On Rotten Tomatoes, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind has an approval rating of 92% based on 255 reviews, with an average score of 8.5/10.

The site's critical consensus reads, "Propelled by Charlie Kaufman's smart, imaginative script and Michel Gondry's equally daring directorial touch, Eternal Sunshine is a twisty yet heartfelt look at relationships and heartache.

[53] Roger Ebert wrote: "Despite jumping through the deliberately disorienting hoops of its story, Eternal Sunshine has an emotional center, and that's what makes it work.

"[55] A. O. Scott praised it as "cerebral, formally and conceptually complicated, dense with literary allusions and as unabashedly romantic as any movie you'll ever see".

[64] Ann Hornaday, in The Washington Post, said "Even when forced to wear costumes and wigs that make her look like Pippi Longstocking after an acid-fueled trip to the thrift market, Winslet maintains a reassuring equilibrium.

"[68] The supporting cast also received acclaim, with several reviewers, including Hornaday and Rick Groen of The Globe and Mail singling out Ruffalo's performance for praise.

[65] The Seattle Times in their review stated "Gondry ... makes it all a melancholy fun house, with camera work and visual tricks that rival the screenplay in invention".

[73] The A. V. Club placed it first on its list of the best films of the 2000s, writing: "Though Kaufman is hardly a purely cerebral writer, his philosophical inquiries find an added emotional weight under Gondry's direction.

Portraying the fading and flaring of love in gargantuan bookstores and on railway lines, Gondry captures a moment that's quintessentially of the 21st century, and yet timeless.

So it is with Eternal Sunshine's lovers, whose circular path brings them back together for an ending that's ambiguous but guardedly hopeful about the possibility of a future not necessarily doomed to reprise the hurt of the past, though it also may well revisit the same mistakes.

"[5] Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was released on VHS and DVD by Universal Studios Home Video on September 28, 2004,[80][81] selling a combined total of over 600,000 units on the first day.

[90][91] On July 26, 2022, Kino Lorber Studio Classics released Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind on 4K Ultra HD Blu-Ray.

While the album is primarily about lead singer Anthony Green's battle with addiction and substance abuse, the film is referenced both directly and indirectly in its lyrics.

[97] American rapper and record producer Jay Electronica sampled five different tracks of Jon Brion's film score for his 2007 debut mixtape Act 1: Eternal Sunshine (The Pledge).

[98] American rapper and record producer Mac Miller sampled a track of Jon Brion's film score for his 2013 song "The Quest".

[99] American singer-songwriter Jhené Aiko said the film inspired the songs "Eternal Sunshine" and "Spotless Mind" on her 2014 debut album, Souled Out.

[100] South Korean singer-songwriter Taeyeon took inspiration from the film in the music video for her song "What Do I Call You", the title track on her 2020 EP with the same name.