When the film “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” debuted, critics were almost unanimous in their respect for the film. But while many experts agreed on the film's overall quality, they tended to disagree on the film's most impressive features. Some, like Robert Wilonsky of the Dallas Observer, applauded the film for the iconoclastic style of its writer, Charlie Kaufman, and its director, Michel Gondry: “['Eternal Sunshine'] seems like something completely new; such are the gifts of Kaufman and Gondry, inventors and magicians. Wilonsky was most impressed by the film's elements which were distinctively artistic. Others, however, found the piece to be a brilliant adaptation of the classic Hollywood narrative. Glenn Whipp of the Los Angeles Daily News was fascinated by the story and its thematic elements as presented in the piece, calling the film "a surprisingly moving look at love, life and memory from one of the greatest films about love". untold stories." Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Disagreement among film critics over the proper classification of “Eternal Sunshine” is no puzzle. The film's apparent schizophrenic nature boasts characteristics of both European art cinema, as defined by David Bordwell in his article “The Art Cinema as a Mode of Film Practice,” and classic Hollywood narrative. Gondry and Kaufman intertwine some of the most intrinsic characteristics of both styles – ambiguity and closure, emphasis on character and presence of a goal, deviance and conformity to classical Hollywood – to create a complex combination of the two film schools. The resulting hybrid results in a work that is fresh and quietly familiar to both viewers and critics. The first two concepts merged by Gondry and Kaufman are ambiguity, a key characteristic of auteur cinema (according to Bordwell), and closure, a fundamental aspect. of classic Hollywood narrative. In “Eternal Sunshine” there is a risk of confusion due to the persistent vagueness in much of the film. Viewers accustomed to the classic Hollywood narrative style of linear, causal relationships find themselves enigmatic as scenes and entire sections of the story are placed non-chronologically in the film. Bordwell states that “as far as auteur cinema is concerned, the puzzle is that of plot: who tells this story? How is this story told? Why is this story being told this way?” The opening scenes of the film constitute its true conclusion; however, the viewer is not aware of this until the end. It is at this point that, true to classic Hollywood form, there is a strong sense of closure as loose ends in both the sub- and main plots are tied up. Bordwell's definition of arthouse cinema includes "an open and arbitrary ending," but this is certainly not what we encounter at the conclusion of "Eternal Sunshine." Mary (Kirsten Dunst) learns of her memory wipe following her affair with Dr. Howard (Tom Wilkinson) and attempts to minimize the harm done to others by sending files to other patients. After the story's central characters, Joel (Jim Carrey) and Clementine (Kate Winslet), learn of their procedures, they rediscover their love for each other and decide to restart their relationship. Although the viewer may get lost at some points in the film, the future of the characters at the conclusion is relatively unambiguous. Other elements of the two distinctive cinematic styles that work in unison are strong emphasis.