Philosophical Love

The relationship between Patrick and Clementine in the movie makes people feel a little strange. Patrick can imitate Joel's words and steal his things, but he cannot really steal his love.

In the movie, this has been shown. 

In the movie, Clementine's hair color has already changed once. When her hair was orange, Joel gave her a nickname. Although this nickname is very affectionate, only those with this background knowledge can understand the meaning. 

Clementine forgot these memories, and when he called her Orange Girl again, although such a nickname was intimate, it could not move Clementine.

In the movie, Joel and Clementine lie on the ice twice, but their words are different both times. After all, words spoken from the heart are different from learned lines. Sweet words can be learned, but a sweet mood cannot be obtained by learning.

From the beginning, Patrick has been hoping to get love through deception. He can do everything well, but with this approach, he can't get true love at all.

Love cannot be obtained by cheating.

Although Clementine has lost her memory, she still has feelings. She can feel whether this is love. She interrupted Patrick, knowing that this was not what she wanted.

People who have erased their memories may not necessarily be happy.

Joel already understood this and wanted to stop this process in his memory.

Joel finds the doctor in the memory. He hopes to stop erasing his memory, but the doctor is just his memory. Now that this process has begun, he cannot return to reality while wandering in his memory. There is no way to stop the process anymore.

He could only try to keep Clementine in his memory. In his memory, he found his red-haired girlfriend. He confessed all this to Clementine, who easily forgave him and helped him find a way.

Clementine helped him think of a method: since the erasure of memory is based on Joel's memory of Clementine, it is to erase all memories about Clementine without harming his other memories, then just keep Clementine in his other memories.

Joel began to try hard to recall his childhood memories, remembering the scenes without Clementine. He wants to keep Clementine in his memory. This recollection brought him back to the age of four.

He successfully put Clementine back into his other memories, but the problem was that this process seemed to cause his brain to become confused.

His thinking pattern also seems to have changed back to when he was four years old.

Stan and Mary, who were monitoring his memory from the outside, soon discovered this problem. Stan called the doctor and asked him to come over and take care of the problems. 

This also raises another question: Mary, who was taking drugs and messing around with Stan just now, after hearing that the doctor was coming, immediately showed a completely different attitude from the way she treated Stan just now.

In her words, she showed her admiration for the doctor. Unlike her attitude towards Stan just now, Mary expressed her feelings clearly this time.

Stan obviously noticed this feeling, but he didn't say anything.

In his memory, Joel is still in a state of confusion. Everything around him seemed to be falling into a frenzy of fantasy, and he couldn't control his thoughts. 

He could even lie in the sink and shower in his memory - his memory was messed up.

Dr. Howard, who arrived soon, controlled the further confusion of memory and began to allow the memory erasure process to resume.

In his memory, Joel begins his escape again, taking Clementine with him and trying to find a place to hide her. This time, he tried to recall those shameful memories, memories that were profound and not easily forgotten, that might also have retained Clementine.

However, all this did not go well. This hiding process was not smooth. Joel recalled his shameful things, but these things did not play a very good role in hiding Clementine. 

The memories that should disappear are still disappearing, and he is trying hard to remember, even at the cost of recalling the most shameful and least willing memories and exposing those memories to others, but even so, he could not retain these memories.

Lost love is not so easy to get back.

At this point, the doctor seemed to have won in the real world. He indeed has more outstanding abilities than Stan and others, which also makes Mary unreservedly express her admiration and love for the doctor when facing him. 

She made it very clear, and Stan could see her feelings. Although he also had deep feelings for Mary, he chose to leave voluntarily.

Mary, who stayed here, was still affected by the residual marijuana, and she began to show an attitude of actively pursuing the doctor. 

At first, she was still using quotes from famous people to express her attitude, but soon, she started to convey her attitude directly and kissed the doctor.

The doctor responded to her, but at this time, the doctor's wife also arrived. The doctor and Mary hurriedly explained all this, but the wife revealed something Mary could not accept.

Mary had an affair with a doctor, and her memory was wiped once.

This is not the first time she has become obsessed with the doctor.

This fact stunned Mary. For the audience, this also explained another truth about love: love is something that cannot be easily forgotten. Even if the memory is gone, those feelings about lovers will not be forgotten. 

The past love can be forgotten, but the appealing things about the other person are still attractive.

Memories can be erased, but the nature of human love cannot be changed so easily.

In his memory, Joel recalled the first time he asked Clementine to go out. Clementine asked him to promise that this was not a game and she was not a person who would change easily. 

She asked him not to be impulsive, but his acceptance of himself requires a long-term commitment from him.

And Joel promised without hesitation. At the time, he did not understand the meaning of these promises - but immediately, Clementine disappeared - the memories at that time just flashed, and now, Clementine has left.

Joel began to realize that he had not kept these promises. Clementine has seen through him a long time ago, and he really wants to change.

However, people are not easily changed by other people's requests or memories: at this time, Mary found recordings of her past memories. Through these, she began to try to understand her past, and, listening to those memories and thinking about her current mood, she also realized that she was still as stupid as she was back then.

In his memory, Joel also returned to where he first met Clementine.

This time, Clementine had green hair. Here, he remembered his love at first sight for Clementine, and he finally understood that he could not keep this memory.

He recalled the interaction with Clementine when he first met; that was their memory. At that time, Clementine was just an appeal to him, but at this time, he realized Clementine's influence on him and felt that Clementine could see through everything about him.

He now understood that he had nothing hidden in front of her. 

All these expressions of love frightened the past Joel, who didn't know what love was at that time and even wanted to turn around and run away.

However, this time, in his memory, he was no longer eager to escape. He turned around and kissed Clementine one last time. And this thing that did not exist in his memory finally made him remember the only sentence that had not been erased in the entire memory erasure.

See you in Montauk.

At this point, people already understand the encounter in Montauk at the beginning of the movie. They began to understand why the two of them went to Montauk, and they also began to understand why they were there and attracted to each other. 

It was the meeting again of two people whose memories had been erased. And just like Mary will be attracted to the doctor again, although they no longer have each other's memories, they can still fall in love after meeting once.

Even if they have no memory in each other's hearts, they still retain their fatal attraction - this is true love, which will not change due to any external conditions.

The flashback part of the movie finally ends here. The movie returns to the first 17 minutes, but the difference is that the movie tells Mary's role this time. She left the clinic, and when she left, she took the memory recordings of more than one person.

She returned these items to those whose memories were erased, including those of Clementine and Joel.

Joel and Clementine, who met again, also received these things. First, Joel heard Clementine's evaluation of himself, and then Clementine heard Joel's evaluation of her.

The two people suddenly discovered that it turns out that love would deteriorate in a long-term relationship, and their feelings for each other began to decline.

Clementine once again chose to leave.

However, the difference this time was that Joel did not let her leave like this. He chased her out, and then the two began to confess their problems in front of each other.

They are not perfect; they have shortcomings, and long-term relationships will still expose these.

But this time, Joel expressed his attitude towards those shortcomings in one sentence.

"That doesn't matter."

Yes, it doesn't matter - they can tolerate each other's shortcomings and problems. Love is not only attraction but also tolerance.

Other things can't change people, but love can. If love really exists, then what else is unchangeable?

This is true love.

*****

Thanks and kudos for my patreons 

Marcelo Maia

Britanna

Mandy G

Scott DePaepe

Danny York

MMMCMXCIX, or 3,999

You can read advanced chapters on my Patreon account: https://www.patreon.com/Sayonara816.