Advance Tickets:
https://thefridacinema.org/movies/eternal-sunshine-of-the-spotless-mind/
Join us for our final 2025 partnership with the nationwide Science on Screen® program for a special screening of writer Charlie Kaufman and director Michel Gondry's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. This special screening will be proceeded by a special presentation by Dr. Sandra Langeslag, who will be joining us to take a fascinating dive into the science of memory and heartbreak with her presentation "The Neuroscience Behind Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind."
ABOUT DR. SANDRA LANGESLAG AND HER PRESENTATION
Dr. Sandra Langeslag, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor in Psychological Sciences at the University of Missouri – St. Louis. She received her PhD in Biological and Cognitive Psychology from the Erasmus University Rotterdam in The Netherlands. She is the director of the Neurocognition of Emotion and Motivation Lab, where she studies the interaction between cognition + emotion, and cognition + romantic love. Examples of her research topics are emotional memory and love regulation. Dr. Sandra Langeslag teaches courses on learning and memory, emotions and the brain, and statistics. How do we form memories—and can we truly forget what hurts us most? Dr. Langeslag, a cognitive neuroscientist who studies the psychology of love and emotion regulation, will explore what brain science reveals about how we store and recall emotional experiences. She’ll also discuss real-world approaches to easing painful memories, share research-based strategies for coping with romantic breakups, and offer insights into how the film’s unconventional storytelling mirrors the nonlinear nature of memory itself. Learn more at
https://www.umsl.edu/psychology/directory/langeslag-sandra.html.
ABOUT THE FILM
A visually inventive and emotionally raw exploration of memory, love, and loss, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind follows Joel (Jim Carrey), a reserved man who discovers that his impulsive ex-girlfriend Clementine (Kate Winslet) has undergone a medical procedure to erase all memories of their relationship. In a mix of desperation and curiosity, Joel decides to do the same -- but as he relives his memories with her as they vanish one by one, he rediscovers just how deeply he loves her. The film unfolds largely inside Joel’s mind, blending surrealism with grounded emotion as he tries to hide Clementine in forgotten corners of his subconscious in an effort to resist the erasure.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was met with critical acclaim for its originality, emotional depth, and the dramatic range of Carrey and Winslet’s performances. The film won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, and was nominated for Best Actress (Winslet). It’s often cited as one of the defining films of the 2000s, celebrated for its bold storytelling structure, dreamlike visuals, and bittersweet meditation on memory and identity, and influencing countless films and series that navigate nonlinear timelines, unreliable narrators, and the fragile mechanics of human connection.
ABOUT OUR MODERATOR
Atalia Lopez is an Australian transplant, Letterboxd devotee, and Frida Cinema board member. She teaches classes on the intersection of film, literature, and the urban environment at Chapman University, and is proudly responsible for exposing hundreds of students to David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive. Atalia completed her undergraduate studies in literature at Chapman University and holds a master’s degree from the University of Oxford. You may also know her as the host of The Frida’s monthly Film Trivia Nights, where she invented the celebrated “fourth round stretch.”
ABOUT SCIENCE ON SCREEN
Science on Screen® is an initiative of the Coolidge Corner Theatre, with major support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and their grant initiative brings science to cinemas nationwide. The Coolidge Corner Theatre’s series has enhanced film and scientific literacy with this popular program, which launched at the Coolidge in 2005 in partnership with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and its pioneering nationwide film program. Since 2011, Sloan has awarded the Coolidge over $4 million to develop and administer Science on Screen programs around the US through partnerships with other nonprofits. The Coolidge has in turn awarded 393 grants totaling over $2.5 million to 121 film and science-focused organizations in 44 states (plus Washington, DC) across the country. Learn more at scienceonscreen.org.
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