If you've seen this film before, you'll want to see it again. If you haven't seen this film before, you'll NEED to see it again. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is one of those movies you have to watch twice. The first time, you're totally confused for the first hundred minutes or so, and then you go "Oh...WOW!" Realising what a brilliant concept it is, you then have to watch it over to check that it all works.

And it does. The writing, by Being John Malkovich's Charlie Kaufman, is as spotless as the title and for once Jim Carrey puts away his gurning and proves that, if he keeps a straight face, he's not half bad. Kate Winslet is excellent as the "stranger on the train" and there are minor roles for Kirsten Dunst and Elijah Wood, who're always worth watching. This is the movie that brings a whole new meaning to the phrase "I just can't get you out of my head."

Joel Barish (Carrey) awakes in a strange state. His apartment and his life are a mess. At the train station on his way to work it doesn't feel like a normal day. He decides to skip work and runs to another platform to hop a train for the beach. On this frozen February day Clementine Kruczynski (Winslet), a woman with strange taste in colour schemes - orange coat, hair dyed blue - chats him up. They are shy with each other. Awkward. But by the end of the day they realise there's something there. The next night she takes him to the frozen Charles River. When he takes her home, she asks to sleep at his place and runs up to fetch a toothbrush.

But their relationship rekindles buried memories. Strange things beging to happen that suggest they have a history neither remembers. The road to the discovery of that history is stranger than they, or we, suspect.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: Film4, Wednesday 25 July, 9pm

Worth a look:
Double Indemnity: More4, Saturday 21 July, 1.55pm
Superman: TCM, Saturday 21 July, 3pm
The Fifth Element: Sci-Fi, Saturday 21 July, 6.30pm
Gone With the Wind: TCM, Sunday 22 July, 3pm