Resumo

After writing screenplays for films such as Being John Malkovich (1999), Adaptation (2002) and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), exploring human relationships in a very peculiar way, Charlie Kaufman conquered his space in the Hollywood film industry by making works that achieved the rare intention of being both “art films” and commercial films.
The screenwriter usually builds unusual plots that mix fantasy, science fiction and surrealism, creating an evident signature in his films. Among the elements that highlight the creativity in Kaufman’s scripts are: a portal that takes people into the mind of actor John Malkovich, a screenwriter who writes the script for the film we are watching, a couple that erases each other from their memory, a playwright who creates several simulacra of his life in a shed, a man who, in an animated film, sees all the other characters with the same face and a woman who visits the home of her boyfriend’s parents where they seem to grow old and rejuvenate by behaving in a peculiar way.
However, although very important, these characteristics constitute only the most superficial layer of Kaufman’s works. Explored further, they can be studied from psychological and philosophical perspectives, the demonstration of which is my intention in this article.
For that, I will mainly analyse the films Being John Malkovich, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and I am thinking of ending things, according to the studies by Nietzsche, Freud, Schopenhauer, among others.