ABSTRACT
Michel Gondry’s work is full of clues that signal his fascination with the life of the mind. Departures into surreal or metaphysical spaces, depictions of dreams, and other such states testify to the importance of fantastic invention, both by Gondry and by his characters, in a kind of double vision. A secondary aspect of the psychic life of Gondry’s filmmaking are the personal anxieties that surface across his work. Gondry’s films often veer into delicate emotional territory entailing misunderstandings between family members, or would-be lovers. On the other hand, Gondry frequently portrays acts of reconciliation and community building. His use of sound and music persistently supports the extension of the self and exposure of the self on the way to human connection. Gondry’s optimistic belief in forces that bring people together may be most obvious in the conclusion of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, where two people who have taken great measures to forget each other find themselves together again.
