Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

I'm planning on watching this movie tonight. I was thinking about it and then began to contemplate the message of the movie. I learned from an article in Books and Culture where the title of the movie came from. It originates from a poem by Alexander Pope entitled: Eloise to Abelard. You can read it for yourself here.

This poem is about the historical lovers Abelard and Eloise. Abelard was a renownd scholar and was implored by Eloise's uncle, who was an important member of the church, to tutor her in the areas of theology and philosophy. Soon a love affair developed between the two and they had a son. The two were secretly married and then Abelard convinced Eloise to take the holy vows of a convent and locked her away there. Eloise's uncle was at first angered by the affair but had been placated by their marriage. However, when he believed that Abelard had abandoned Eloise to the convent the enraged uncle had the poor scholar castrated. But, perhaps he had it coming. At any rate, the two lovers eventually began to corespond through letters. Abelard joined a monestary and, despite some of his views being somewhat skewed from the status quo of the Roman Catholic Church, became an important theologian who set the groundwork for others like Thomas Aquinas. Despite his great works as a theologian, it is his letters to his beloved that he is best known for.

Alexander Pope's poem captures the anguish of the abandoned Eloise. She is tourchered by memories of him that will never be more than memories. This brings us back to the movie. This film takes one line from the poem and exponds upon it. The phrase, "Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind!" cries out that desire of any broken heart to be able to forget what it loved in order to not be tourcherd by what is lost.

Is ignorance bliss? Or is it better to love and lose than to never love at all? This film implores us to belive the latter. What do you think?