Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind corrections

When Joel gets to his apartment to get ready for the procedure he closes his window shields. However throughout the movie the shields end up open again, so when Mierzwiak's wife comes, she can see them through the window. See more...

Trivia

The scene where Joel stumbles upon the memory of his visit with the doctor, even though there are two Joels, there are no special effects being applied. As the shot turned back and forth, Jim Carrey actually dashed behind the camera, switching from a standing up wearing a jacket and stocking cap, to sitting down wearing no jacket no hat. It's actually quite impressive. See more...

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Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) - 14 corrections

starring Elijah Wood, Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Kirsten Dunst, Mark Ruffalo (add more)

Comments made in brackets are corrections from other visitors. As such, any aggressive/abusive corrections (and I get quite a few) written as if they're comments I've made myself will be ignored. To submit your own corrections for mistakes, just click the edit icon under an entry, then choose "correct entry". Some entries have "duplicated entry" after them - these are entries which were already listed on the main page, but were submitted again. I occasionally leave these online for a while, just in case they were moved in error, so don't worry about pointing them out to me.

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At the beginning, when Joel and Clementine meet on the train after their memories have been erased, Clem mentions she doesn't want jokes about her name, and Joel doesn't know what she's talking about. However, in the memory if them meeting for the first time on the beach, Clem says to Joel the same thing, and Joel sings "oh my darling, oh my darling, oh my darling Clementine." He should have known of at least the song on the train. [No he shouldn't. He had every thing that might trigger of memory of her erased. A song with her name in it would do just that. This was the whole point of putting that line in the movie; it's not a plot hole, it's a plot point.]

Corrected by Phixius

After Joel puts the gift on the stair banister, the bow keeps moving throughout the scene. When Carrie goes upstairs, the bow is on the far side from Joel. When she comes back down, the bow is now on the close side to Joel. This continues back and forth several times. [This takes place inside Joel's mind. All sorts of weird things happen there, so the bow on the parcel can do a little dance if it wants to.]

Corrected by umathegreatstationarybear

The very first memory Joel has erased is his memory of going to the doctor to get his memory wiped. If that was the first thing he had erased, then he shouldn't know that she is being erased in the other memories. His memory of the procedure is already gone, so he should be going through the rest of the memories like normal or like he would if it was a dream. [He might have had the actual doctor's apointment erased from his memory, but not the memories of when he decided to have her erased. Thus he's still aware that he is erasing her.]

In the whole first sequence of Joel meeting Clementine (i.e. on the train etc) her hair is a faded blue, with obvious roots. However as soon as they get to her house it has changed to a much darker, obviously newly dyed, dark blue. [It has to do with lighting. In daylight her hair looks faded blue but in a darker lighting it appears to be dark blue.]

Time

At the Lacuna office, Mary (on the phone) tells one of their customers that she cannot have the procedure three times in one month. Problem is, when the procedure is done it also erases the memories of having the procedure done, so the woman on the phone wouldn't know she's had it before. These are supposed to be trained professional office staff and should not make such a blunder - the line was written for humorous value. [I wouldn't go so far to call the office staff "trained professionals". Maybe they are trained but not very professional. Drinking, smoking pot and having sex while you’re at work, is in my world a very big mistake. Bigger than the one on the phone, so it could happen.] [Additionally, we don't know what the customer was asking for - she may have had something quite elaborate planned, that she knew in advance she'd want three in one month.]

The level of the beer in the bottle changes without being touched in the scene in the Chinese restaurant. As this seems to be a normal memory, it is not reasonable to attribute this to the nature of the film either. [Actually, this wasn't a normal memory since Joel could hear the voices of the technicians in the background, so the level of the beer could easily change since his memory was being distorted.]

When Jim is walking on the beach at the start of the film, it is supposed to be snowing, and you can see flakes fall from the sky. Trouble is, there isn't any on the sand and you can't see any landing on it or on the sea. [Living in NY, I have witnessed many days when there is snow in the air but no accumulation on the ground. This is especially common when the air temperature is colder than the ground, as it would be near a large body of water.]

Time

In the scene where Mary is leading Joel down the hallway to the doctor, Stan jumps out and scares her. Stan then says to Mary, "Sorry Kirsten..." [His exact lines are: "Sorry. Sorry. I was just...sorry." He never calls her Kirsten.]

Near the beginning when Jim Carrey is waking up Kate Winslet in front of her house (just before Elijah Wood makes his first appearance) Kate Winslet accidentally flashes her wedding band. [She is wearing rings on the thumb of her left hand (not a wedding band location) and on the ring finger of her right hand (also not a wedding band location). There is no ring on the ring finger of her left hand.]

The first scene when Joel is at the train station in Mantauk, it is snowing and there is snow all over the ground. Later, when he meets Clementine, and is back at the station later in the day, there is no snow anywhere. [Snow melts.]

While working on Jim Carrey's memory, Mark Ruffalo opens a bottle of Rolling Rock beer with a bottle opener. Rolling Rock has a twist-off cap. [Some people find that kind of twist-off cap hard on their hands, and use an opener. Also, it is possible he did not realize it was a twist-off cap, if he does not drink that brand of beer regularly.]

It was crucial that patients of Lacuna Inc. remove all items that have a connection with the memory of the one they want erased. It seems like the dent in Joel's car would be a pretty significant connection, since it was part of the act that contributed to the final break up. [Yes, but as shown, a car dent can be explained away as "the guy parked next to me did it". A photograph would be more difficult to explain away.]

Corrected by SexyIrishLeprechaun

Valentine's day appears to be a work day, seeing that Joel skips work. In actuality, Valentine's Day 2004 fell on a Saturday. [So, people do work on Saturdays and as we don't know what job Joel does it's quite possible for him to be skipping work on a Saturday.]

When Joel and Clementine are talking in the bookstore, you can see that the titles of books and section signs have been digitally erased. This is noticeable at points because the erasing of certain signs is not complete, partially revealing what was originally written on them. [This is supposed to represent his memory of the event being wiped clean. This happens throughout the movie as scenes of memories are nearing their end. Objects, words, colors from all around begin to slowly fade away, not everything all at once.]

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