Valella 1 Daniel Valella 5 October 2009 The Techniques of Mlis, Porter, Griffith, and Eisenstein in Eternal Sunshine of the

Spotless Mind Michel Gondrys Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) is a film rife with cinematic techniques innovated by film pioneers Georges Mlis, Edwin S. Porter, D.W. Griffith, and Sergei Eisenstein. While these early filmmakers worked mostly without sound, their contributions remain actively important in the modern world of motion picturesevidenced clearly by Gondrys homage to each. The mise-en-scne for which Mlis is known, the pans and tilts within Porters parallel editing style, Griffiths irisand insert-infused intraframe narrative, and Eisensteins dialectical montage all have their place in Eternal Sunshineyet Gondrys employment of each technique differs quite a bit from that of the early films and their directors. Mliss A Trip to the Moon (1902) showcased its ex-magician filmmakers appreciation for on-screen tricks and scene composition. The films mise-en-scne (its lighting, staging, costumes, makeup, acting styles, props, and set design) is most memorable: large crowds of eccentrically dressed denizenstheir prodigious white hats, their long canes, and their pointed umbrellas and spears emphasized by the motionless stare of the cameramake way for the even more peculiar props. We see the rocket-ship fired from a cannon atop a bulky platform of wooden planks, smashing into the eye of the elusive man on the moon; we see the now faraway earth, the fast-moving meteoroid, and the personified stars of human faces that characterize Mliss everlasting passion for

Valella 2 creating the ultimate fantasy and exhibiting it on screen for scores of mesmerized moviegoers. Like A Trip to the Moon, Eternal Sunshine can be called a fantasy or science fiction film, but whereas Mliss primary interests lied in the captivating magic he could put on celluloid, Gondry was set on blending the fantastical with the real. To this end, Eternal Sunshines lighting is of particular importance: nearly every indoor locationJoels apartment, the Chinese restaurant frequented by Joel and Clementine, and the office of Lacuna, Inc., among othersappears purposely and realistically dark. While the vast majority of cinematographers choose to light rooms from above in order to attain maximum depth of field, Eternal Sunshine features almost no such lighting, creating dark visual spaces that appear far less theatrical. As well, the now-classic scene in which Joel and Clementine lie like angels on the iced-over Charles River has very little artificial lighting; rather, the park lamps and headlights of cars on the nearby highway provide a great deal of visibility. The famous giant crack next to Joel and Clementine also adds a bit of realism to the scene, in addition to serving as a symbol for the characters fractured relationship. Much in line with the mise-en-scne of A Trip to the Moon, though, are Clementines kooky possessions. Her array of conspicuously unnatural hair colors, her bohemian trinkets, her oddly shaped lava lamps, and her offbeat renditions of Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head add a great deal to the films outlandish tone. Furthermore, her seeming obsession with skulls (one on the skeleton sitting in one of her chairs, one atop her television set, and one with boggling plastic eyes above a shelf) augments the films theme of detachment between mind and body. One scene, in fact, includes a mirror that

Valella 3 when Joel looks into itshows a human skull in place of Joels face. Without question, the peculiar nature of the sets in A Trip to the Moon manifests itself within Gondrys work. Perhaps more important than any other cinematic technique in Eternal Sunshine is its parallel editing, reminiscent of Edwin S. Porters style in his 1903 classic, The Great Train Robbery. Porter managed to compress time by positioning back-to-back different scenes depicting simultaneous events. So, immediately after we see a posse of thieves seize bags of money from one of the train-cars, we see a woman encountering the station attendant lying on the ground, shot; while the theft scene comes before the station scene in real time (we, the viewers, watch one scene and then the next), the two events are concurrent in filmic time (in the plot, they occur simultaneously). Later in the film, we see a group of people square dancing in a room, just before we see the robbers in the woods with their newly acquired cashyet another example of Porters parallel editing. Because a great deal of Gondrys film focuses on the memories that travel through Joels mind, many scenes of such memories are juxtaposed with scenes exhibiting the realworld events of the plot taking place at the same time. One sequence, for example, shows Stan and Patrick attempting to operate on Joels brain with a necessary cord unplugged, intercut with the workings of Joels mindhalf the memories erased, half of them still clear. An important difference between the parallel editing of The Great Train Robbery and that of Eternal Sunshine, though, is the intended purpose of its use: while Porter edited scenes in parallel to demonstrate concurrent events within the same realm, Gondry edited scenes in parallel to switch back and forth from the world of Stan and Patrick to

Valella 4 the world of Joels mind. Such a utilization of parallel editing most likely would have made no sense to moviegoers in 1903, but viewers understood it (and embraced it) a century later with no problem. Eternal Sunshine also makes use of pans and tilts, for which The Great Train Robbery became famous upon its release. Porter had his camera pan to the left to show the robbers getaway from the train into the nearby woods, as well as to show them crossing swampy shallows to mount their horses (which stand outside the original frame). So, Porter used panning to surprise his viewers; we have no idea there are horses nearby until he pans slightly to the left and reveals them to us. Similarly, Gondry uses a jagged pan to the right early in his film to show Clementine and Joels cognitive recognition yet vast spatial separation from one another in a Montauk diner. For several seconds, we see alternating close-ups between the two characters faces, creating the illusion that they are quite close to each otherbut only after Gondry switches to a wide shot of Joel and pans right to a wide shot of Clementine do we notice their great distance apart. However, unlike Porter, whose panning served mainly to demonstrate physical space and motion, Gondry uses pans and tilts to illustrate emotional intricacies within his characters. For example, the camera pivots between the faces of Stan and Patrick when they discuss their very different girlfriend situationsand, in another scene, the camera pivots between Marys face, coated with anger and distress, and the tape player she holds while listening to the memory erasure procedure she (for obvious reasons) had not remembered. Gondrys sophisticated use of panning, of course, was unheard of in Porters time. Intraframe narrative, first used by D.W. Griffith in his grand opus, Birth of a Nation (1915), has its place in Eternal Sunshine as well. Just as Griffith looks closer at

Valella 5 the details of his scenesmoving from a wide shot of slaves working in the fields to a medium shot that shows them picking cotton; transitioning from a medium shot of Ben Cameron holding a boll of cotton to a close-up of the cotton boll itself; switching from an establishing shot of Charles Sumner across the table from Austin Stoneman to a close-up of Sumner, his face, his cane, and his shifting wigGondry emphasizes, through intraframe narrative, moments in Eternal Sunshine that would otherwise be overlooked. A great example of intraframe narrative in Gondrys film is the scene in which Joel attempts to hide from Clementine at the Montauk train stop: first, Joel stands shyly in the left foreground of the frame, while Clementine looks with bewilderment from the right background; immediately afterward is a close-up of Clementine, her face shrouded in confusion over Joels skittish demeanor. A scene toward the end of the filmin which Marys face is shown in the right background, in focus, while Stans face stays blurred in the foreground as he professes his love for heris another good example of intraframe narrative, as it focuses on the unique acting style of Kirsten Dunsts Mary while remaining loyal to the position and sound of Mark Ruffalos Stan within the same frame. Gondry employs Griffiths trademark iris and insert shots as well, as one sequence in Eternal Sunshine presents all of Joels memories through an eye-shaped focal point, while another shot shows nothing but the Lacuna, Inc. card that reads Clementine Kruczynski has had Joel Barish erased from her memory. Please never mention their relationship to her again. Sergei Eisensteins technique of dialectical montage also features prominently in Gondrys film. Like a simile, Eisensteins dialectical montage juxtaposed two seemingly unrelated images and made clear a strong ideopolitical connection between them. The

Valella 6 cross of the priest and the sword of the officer in Battleship Potemkin (1925), for example, can be seen as opposites but also clones of one another: while a cross may not be typically used for violence, as a sword typically is, in Eisensteins film, both are weaponsalbeit of a different kindthat carry great power and can create immense devastation. Battleship Potemkins sequence at the Odesa steps, though, has the greatest connection to Eternal Sunshine. Just as Eisensteins shots of women, children, and the disabled are rapidly intercut with shots of the tsars armed troopsthe tormented, fearful faces of victims intercut with the boots and guns of the military forcesbring to light the bifurcation of innocence and cruelty, Gondrys shot of the child Joels hammer-smashing of a dead bird is followed immediately by the shot of a dove fleeing from the treetops aboveillustrating the duplicity of war and peace, as well as of life and death. Without a doubt, Michel Gondrys Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind owes a great deal of its artistic craft to George Mlis, Edwin S. Porter, D.W. Griffith, and Sergei Eisenstein, whose pioneering contributions to cinema continue to influence the greatest filmmakers today. Gondrys film is unimaginable without expressive use of mise-en-scne, pan and tilt, parallel editing, intraframe narrative, and dialectical montage; it is these cinematic techniqueswhen drawn upon, emphasized, and altered by a modern visionary like Gondrythat further the success and influence of the cinema and that make a beautiful, multifaceted film like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind the meaningful work of art that it is.