Script Analysis: “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” — Part 5: Dialogue

Read the script for the critically acclaimed 2004 film and analyze it all this week.

Reading scripts. Absolutely critical to learn the craft of screenwriting. The focus of this bi-weekly series is a deep structural and thematic analysis of each script we read. Our daily schedule:

Monday: Scene-By-Scene Breakdown
Tuesday: Plot
Wednesday: Characters
Thursday: Themes
Friday: Dialogue
Saturday: Takeaways

Today: Dialogue.

You may download a PDF of February 4, 2003 draft here.

Screenplay by Charlie Kaufman, story by Charlie Kaufman & Michel Gondry & Pierre Bismuth

IMDb plot summary: When their relationship turns sour, a young couple undergoes a medical procedure to have each other erased from their memories.

Some questions to consider in relation to dialogue in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

• What do you consider to be the most memorable lines… and why?
• Any notable callbacks (a line used once, then used again later in a different context)?
• How about set-up & payoffs?
• Any exposition that caught your eye for being handled exceptionally well?

Head to RESPONSES and let me know what dialogue in the script made the most impact on you.

Major kudos to Andrew Lightfoot for doing this week’s scene-by-scene breakdown.

To download a PDF of the breakdown for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, go here.

For Part 1, to read the Scene-By-Scene Breakdown discussion, go here.

For Part 2, to read the Major Plot Points discussion, go here.

For Part 3, to read Characters discussion, go here.

For Part 4, to read Themes, go here.

I hope to see you in the RESPONSE section about this week’s script: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

For 70 movie scripts which members of the GITS community have read and analyzed, go here.