Welcome to the twilight zone of Charlie Kaufman, the man behind Being John Malkovich and Adaptation. and the most innovative writer in Hollywood today. In this inventive collaboration with music video director Michel Gondry (the duo also made eccentric comedy Human Nature together), Joel Barish (Jim Carrey) and Clementine Kruczynski (Kate Winslet) meet by chance, and lose their minds over each other. Literally. After their affair ends, Clementine decides she can't live with the memories and goes to Lacuna Inc., a quirky, modest business that erases unwanted recollections. Joel then discovers what Clementine has done and decides to follow suit. During the lengthy pre-credit sequence, we see the couple meet on an empty, windswept beach, but, as this bizarre film progresses, we begin to realise this is perhaps not the case - experience and history having diverged. This outing from Kaufman's oddball imagination is wonderfully intriguing, often touching and typically convoluted - he plays with chronology as effectively as Tarantino. The only minor quibbles are Carrey's understated performance and a slightly lacklustre ending.

PLOT SUMMARY

Romantic comedy drama starring Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet and Kirsten Dunst. When lonely Joel and free-spirited Clementine meet on a beach they instantly fall for one another. But it soon transpires they have already had a relationship, all memories of which have been wiped from their minds by a mysterious company called Lacuna Inc.

Brian Pendreigh, Radio Times Film Guide