So its a clever film. With a unique story line. My problem was that I assumed there would be a happy ending to the film pretty much the whole way through (oh they'll find their way back to each other and live happily ever after despite everything!) so a lot of the genuinely sad material in the movie was lost on me (and yes I accept responsibility for that. But I think they want to have this effect based on how they structured the film).

In essence this movie is about two people who realize their relationship is doomed and go through with it anyway until the inevitable end because they are compelled to. And that's the most beautiful part of this film. Nothing can erase their innate attraction to each other. Love is strong enough to defy loss of memory but not strong enough to defy fate (I think. Assuming I got the end correct...)

Now, the problem I have with it is that its unrealistic. They are so completely different in every way on every level, this kind of relationship would never happen in real life. And don't lecture me about "opposites attract". They aren't just opposites, they are whole levels of existence different from each other. Because the relationship seemed so unlikely it was hard for me to accept it as the pillar of the story. And I was kind of dubious the whole time they were together. Like I was watching some day dream he was having about a girl he knew he could never get with.

And then when memories start becoming a feature of the film it got terribly confusing for me. What was real. What was true. what was going on. I needed to really get to the very end to get all the pieces and then I had to piece it back together and in the course of doing that I missed a lot of the emotional significance of many of the scenes. This one would really benefit from an immediate rewatch but I honestly have no desire to go through it again (felt exactly the same way about Memento for similar reasons).

In the end Im still not sure of the central message of the film. Is it in fact that love is deeper than memory or is it more a statement about the inevitable corruption of trying to use artificial means to free ourselves of emotional discomfort? Perhaps the latter was just a plot device to emphasize the former?

Perhaps Shakespeare sums up this movie best: tis better to have loved and lost then to never have loved at all...