Excuse Me … Have We Met Before?

Picking up from where I left off late last night ….

Last night I had the opportunity to finally watch Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, a movie featuring several big actors, like Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Elijah Wood Kirsten Dunst and Mark Ruffalo. It’s a movie I have been wanting to see for quite some time now and, since Dan and I are trying out a free Netflix subscription, we figured, “Hey, why not?”

First of all, let me say that if you are a person who prefers to understand a movie right off the bat, then forget trying to watch this film. It’s confusing and eccentric to say the least, and it’s mildly Tarantino-style of shooting might drive you crazy. But if you are a movie watcher who can resist the urge to consistently say, “What the eff?!” for the entire first hour, then go for it. You will be pleased.

Without giving away the ultimate outcome of the film, let me explain the very, very basic premise: When Joel (Carrey) meets Clementine (Winslet), the two are an instant pair, falling madly (deeply, truly) in love with one another. Things are blissful until things get ugly (yep, the honeymoon is over) and Clementine chooses to erase Joel from her life — literally. The story follows the couple’s journey to forget one another only to discover they were truly meant to be.

When the movie was over, Dan and I looked at each other at the same time. Before I could get out “Would you remember me even if you erased me from your memory?” he said “Would you ever want to erase me from your memory?” Tells you a bit about us.

We giggled. And then, we both became thoughtful. Is true love — that eternal concept of love at first sight — really just two souls’ recognition of a counterpart in one another?

This concept is a wicked, but deep one. I don’t believe in love at first sight, but I do believe in the power of the universe and its knowledge of something much greater than any one of us. I don’t believe we can erase (literally, not figuratively) someone from our lives, but I do believe that great bonds are simply a deeper knowing of a previous history.

I said to Dan, “Maybe I love you so much because I have already known you prior to this life. Maybe you annoyed me so much that I erased you and everyone else knows, except for you and me.”

He laughed and said, “Yes, and, perhaps, when we found each other again, they all said ‘Screw it. Just let them be.'” We giggled again.

The feeling after this movie was one that was reminiscent of the weirded-out vibes you get after watching a movie like “The Matrix” or reading a book like George Orwell’s 1984. What if we are all just one big, computerized, numerical universe? What if we are all being controlled by Big Brother and we don’t know it?

What if I knew you before and these familiar feelings are simply things I have already felt before?

Cue the spooky, Twighlight Zone music.