Gen Z is discovering Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind in their own way, Kate Winslet says

Like Joel and Clementine themselves, Gen Z is finding a lot more to love about the journey through Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind than they may have initially bargained for. That’s at least according to Kate Winslet, who told Vanity Fair in a recent interview that the younger generation was discovering the film “in a different way,” and not just because of the new Ariana Grande album.

“I find that the Gen Z are much more open in terms of who they are and how they want to live their lives—what they want from their next decade, what they’ve learned and what they won’t repeat,” the Lee actor said. “There’s a sense of using their voices that is much more palpable now than it was perhaps when we actually made the film back in 2003.”

Whether or not you read the film as a romance, a tragedy, or a little bit of both, screenwriter Charlie Kaufman and director Michael Gondry’s masterpiece of love and memory is entirely about letting go of certainty and repeating one’s mistakes (which, from a certain angle, might not be mistakes at all). Still, while Gen Z might know their own hearts better than previous generations, they’re still finding things to identify with in the film, Winslet said.

“What’s fascinating, having been acting for such a long time, is watching how a newer audience coming at something will find totally different things to what an audience found then,” she shared. “People now say, ‘Oh my God, that was me. I was Clementine. I was her. I was her. I still am her now. Oh my God.’ And they’ll really cite reasons why.” 

Speaking of memory and the changing meanings of a work of art, Winslet also shared a touching sentiment about her children watching her films one day after she’s gone. “I was thinking the other day, ‘My God, how lucky I am,’ because they’ll have this whole film library of what I look like from 17 and the way through,” she said. “I’ve been pregnant when I’ve worked with my children. They’ll be able to see knowing that that’s them inside that pregnant belly, things like that. It’s kind of extraordinary.”