Most of the film is a Freudian romp round Joel's cache of memories, as he frantically tries to stop the deleting process his unconscious self is undergoing - because, inevitably, he's realised that he doesn't want to forget Clem after all. That's probably the only predictable element in this startlingly unconventional love story: although all the skittering through Joel's head occasionally stumbles towards repetitiveness, it never topples in. Who are we without our memories, Kaufman inquires, and the answer comes back: the same fool we were with them, only undefended.