Film & Philosophy: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Name: Film & Philosophy: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Start: 2026-04-06T18:00:00+01:00
End: 2026-04-06T21:00:00+01:00
Location: Filmhouse

Schedule

Mon Apr 06 2026 at 06:00 pm to 09:00 pm

UTC+01:00

Location

Filmhouse | Edinburgh, SC

Join us for the final screening in the Film & Philosophy: The Cinema of the Self season. Throughout this season, we have viewed the self not as fixed, but as fragile, shaped by time, memory, and repetition - and constantly open to revision.
Having journeyed through repetition in Groundhog Day and the persistence of memory in After Life, we conclude with a look at the third force that shapes who we become: forgetting.
Michel Gondry’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) is a formally inventive and emotionally raw exploration of love, loss, and the desire to start again. In this world, memory itself becomes something that can be edited, deleted, or rewritten. The film poses a critical philosophical question: whether it is possible to protect ourselves from pain without also losing what makes us who we are.
This screening will feature a short introduction and be followed by an open, informal discussion led by James Mooney (University of Edinburgh).
The event is designed to use cinema as a "shared point of departure" for reflection. No prior knowledge of philosophy is required—the discussion is grounded in the experience of watching the film together.
Come along to discuss whether a life without painful memories is a life less lived.