Film Review: How The Film 'Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind' Uses A Non-Linear Narrative To Structure Its Story

 Today I was briefed on Non-Linear Narrative story telling. This is when a film plays with the expectation of the audience, by reshuffling events within a story, in order to engage them with the narrative. This is the opposite of traditional storytelling, which is usually told in a linear format, meaning all events present to the audience is in the correct order (the is no time displacement). Non linear makes use of peoples expectations of the traditional style, using out of order events in order to structure its narrative. 

The displacement of time can be introduced in a variety of different way including:

Flash back/forward - An interjected scene that takes the narrative backwards or forwards in time, in order to add coherency to the narrative. This flashback can be internal or external. If internal then event seen will be within narrative, with external being outside of the narrative, e.g Childhood.

Deux Ex Machina - God out of the machine. The story is resolved by an unexpected occurrence, which ties up loose ends without much explanation (miracle). This is used in stories to resolve unsolvable problems

Breaking The Forth Wall - The forth wall is an imaginary wall which divides the story and audience. It can be used creatively within a narrative in order for the audience to see the inner thoughts of the character. It brings the audience into the story, allowing for a more personal experience.

The Kuleshov Effect - A sequence of shots (montage) which offers the audience a stronger connection to the character and a sense of environment. Kuleshov experimented with the same shot, contrasted against a different clip (bowl of soup, the girl in the coffin and the attractive women), in order to see the audiences reaction. He found that the audience believed that the character was either hungry, sad or lustful, based on proceeded clip, even though the original shot contained a man with the same expression. 

Each of the methods can be used within a narrative in order to create plot hooks and twists. Twists are prominently associated with non linear narratives and are implemented to play with the expectation of the audience. The story will use the misdirection to add in additional information which is essential to the unravelling of the plot. Hooks are used to set up an unfulfilled promise towards the audience. This sets up situations such as cliff hangers, which keep the audience guessing and wanting more. Hooks are commonly used in television in order to retain the viewers attention for the next episode. 

After the brief I then watch the 2004, Sci-fi/Romance, Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind. This was a really good example for a non-linear narrative as it contained nonlinear editing/narrative, twists, flashbacks and flash forwards. 

Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind

The film uses a non-linear narrative to creatively filter information to the audience, while still remaining mysterious for the greater part of the narrative. At the beginning, the audience sees the information presented to them at face value, and has no reason to doubt the information. However as the story progresses, the use of clever editing and cues from the character, lead you to believe something is wrong, however you cant quite tell what. Its an interesting experience as you are physically unable to tell the direction the narrative is going in. 

The film presents its information to the audience in stages, allowing the film to be able to tell its story. Instead of simply feeding the information to the audience through dialogue, however, the film instead uses visual examples to show off narrative points. For example there is a scene at the beginning where the main character Joel Barish can be seen multiple times on screen. The character sides with the audience, expressing his confusion surrounding the events which are unfolding around him, but like the audience is unable to do anything about it. This creative use of visually telling the story is essential in order to make the nonlinear narrative work. Although the audience does not have a clear idea of what is going on in the narrative, it is clear that such events taking place are building up to a bigger story. The use of the same characters within each scene, emphasis their importance to plot and it becomes clearer that something more meaningful is at play to connect the characters. Side characters constantly change in their appearance (Clementine's hair changes colour), while Joel himself remains the same. This paired with the dreamlike editing, hints to the audience that Joel may not be in a conscious state. 

The balance between keeping the audience guessing whilst also providing context to the events unfolding is done really well within this film. Although at times I felt completely lost, there was enough information presented, which allowed me to understand whilst still questioning what was going to happen next. It is important that the audience feels they are still learning new information as the events unfold, as their is a risk that they will lose interest in the story, feeling as if they are watching a string of random events spliced together. However this idea or not knowing is a theme that 'Spotless Mind' uses in order for the audience to connect to the main character Joel. Joel is also unaware of his situation as he has been made to forget. So by structuring the narrative this way, the audience is experiencing the world as Joel sees it. I really like this idea as by the time you have a full understanding of the events which have taken place, you understand Joel's desire to reconnect with Clementine. Joel is forced throughout the story to subjectively analyse his relationship with Clementine in order to understand the actions he has taken which lead to the breaking up of their relationship. By experiencing the same confusion as Joel, it causes you to question why anyone would willingly put themselves through this experience, making it seem more impactful to the audience. 

I also really like the way the film starts as if the two characters are meeting for the first time. This presents the audience with the feeling that they are watching a linear story, as character's usually meet at the beginning. However it is later learned that this is not the first time both character's have met and instead its their new selves discovering each other again. I really like the idea that they have gone through all of the trouble to forget about each other and even when they don't know who each other is they are able to find each other again. This displays the character's true, unfiltered, feelings towards each other, something they were both unable to express in words in their former lives. This is hinted at with the character's Mary Svevo and Doctor Howard. Like the main character's, Mary also had her memory wiped in order to forget about Howard. However like the main characters, she finds herself developing feelings for Howard once again. This disprovement of science with feelings, shows an almost supernatural element to 'love', explaining that not even science can stop true love. This enhances the romance element to the story and makes all the pain the character had to endure worth it in the end. 

It was an interesting experience, which opened my mind as to how to present a story. If this story had been linear, than all events leading up to the end would have far less impact as the audience would not have gone on the same journey as the main character.