Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

The movie I chose is called Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. The plot, in the most basic terms, is about a whimsical, free spirited woman (Clementine) and a uptight, nervous man (Joel) who after the end of their tumultuous relationship are erasing each other from their memories. Most of the movie occurs in the brain of the Joel while his memories of Clementine are being erased at which point he comes to realize that he does not want to lose her from his memories. While this is happening, the company who performs the task of erasing the memories comes to realize the immorality of the process and decides to mail tapes and documents to all of the people who have had their memories erased. One morning (after the memories are erased) while Joel is late for work, he takes the train instead and meets Clementine, and an instant love is formed between them. They both return home to receive the documents of their erased memories of each other, in the form of tapes in which each of them reveals essentially everything that they disliked about their relationship. Although they realize their previous relationship, which they do not remember was difficult and troubling, they decide to try again anyway. I am including a link to the IMDB description of this movie for I feel mine is lacking in good detail. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0338013/synopsis

The scene I am choosing, though there are many I find beautiful, moving and filled with romance is a scene that shows a memory that is being erased from Joel's brain. Joel and Clementine are under a cover simply talking. Clementine asks Joel if she is ugly and then proceeds to tell him a story about when she was a young girl and she had a doll she called Clementine and that she would scream at the doll to be more beautiful. She then goes on to say that she felt if the doll got more beautiful that she would get more beautiful too. Clementine describes how lonely it is to be a child and starts to cry. Joel proceeds to tell her she is beautiful and they kiss. All of the sudden Clementine is sliding away from Joel because the memory is being erased and Joel says "Please, just let me keep this memory, just this one." I feel the scene sort of shows those intense intimate moments that makes all of the other downfalls of a relationship completely worth it. There is something beautiful about a person revealing their emotions and feelings and I feel perhaps they just aren't treasured enough. This memory is the moment that Joel realizes he no longer wants to have his memory erased and I feel that is because those sorts of memories no matter whether a relationship continues or ends are crucial to our existence; these types of perfect moments where it is possible to feel as close as you possibly can to another person make life simply worth living. This in my mind qualifies as the deepest type of romance.