Reviews
Eternity
Love is perhaps the most complicated emotion a human can experience, and the romanticised notion of a “one true love” has been explored so relentlessly in the rom-com genre that it sometimes makes me want to scratch my own eyes out. My expectations going into Eternity were low, but I have to admit that there is a lot about the film that genuinely works. Even though it follows some familiar tropes and clichés, it feels self-aware enough to embrace them without becoming overly cheesy or tiresome.
Brought to life by writer and director David Freyne and co-writer Patrick Cunnane, Eternity follows Joan (Elizabeth Olsen) and Larry (Miles Teller), a couple who, on the surface, have been happily married for over sixty years. However, the sharp little quips at the start of the film reveal the realities of a lifetime spent together. Unfortunately, Larry dies after choking on a pretzel and passes into the “true” afterlife, where he faces an impossible question: what does he want for the rest of his eternity? It is a question most people would struggle to answer, especially when confronted with countless options, from the idyllic “Beach World” to the more absurd, such as “1930s Germany with 100 per cent fewer Nazis,” a personal favourite of mine.
While agonising over his choice, Larry decides he will wait for Joan to join him so they can spend eternity together. It sounds simple enough, but things are never that straightforward. After Joan passes just a week later, the couple are confronted with an unexpected twist. Her first husband, Luke (Callum Turner), a soldier who died during the Korean War, has been waiting sixty-seven years at the junction before eternity, hoping to reunite with Joan. It is a complicated love triangle, but an incredibly fun premise to explore.
The Afterlife Coordinators, Anna (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) and Ryan (John Early), soon enter the picture. With years of experience helping the recently deceased find their ideal eternities, they initially seem like the perfect guides. However, it quickly becomes clear that each has a personal stake in the outcome, and their competitive approach to “helping” only complicates the situation further.
What follows is the expected mix of twists and turns you would find in any romance movie, but Eternity, to its credit, handles them in a way that feels emotionally genuine and relatable. There are no over-the-top theatrics for the sake of drama. Instead, the film focuses on the real weight of the situation and explores different forms of love, because at the end of the day, love is perhaps the messiest emotion of all. It has no single definition, and the back-and-forth that Joan experiences, both between the two men and within herself, will feel familiar to anyone who has ever questioned what love truly means.
Without a doubt, Da’Vine Joy Randolph is the standout of the film. The comedy would fall flat without her impeccable timing, and some of the most emotional moments are sparked by her delivery. That being said, for a film like this to work, the performances of the main three actors need to be almost flawless, and for the most part, they are. Olsen and Turner’s chemistry is palpable; it is exactly what you would expect from young lovers with almost no cares in the world. Their attraction feels believable, and the tension built over sixty-seven years apart is clear.
At first, I thought Olsen and Teller did not share much chemistry, but on reflection, their portrayal of a couple married for sixty-five years might actually be as true to life as expected. The little quarrels they have in the afterlife cover just about everything, and while this could be mistaken for a lack of love, it instead feels like an authentic reflection of what a lifelong partnership looks like. As the story progresses, their relationship becomes increasingly convincing.
Eternity is, at times, one of the funniest films you are likely to see all year. The first act in particular had me in stitches, much of it thanks to Randolph, who truly holds everything together. I would be lying if I said the humour works all the time, though. It can feel slightly jarring in the second and third acts, where it might have been more effective to let the audience sit with the emotional weight of the story rather than serve joke after joke. Then again, maybe that is just a me problem.
As is often the case with A24 productions, Eternity is visually stunning. The colours leap off the screen, with deep reds, golds, and blues blending beautifully to make the afterlife appear as perfect as the ACs want people to believe. Several moments could be freeze-framed and printed on a postcard, particularly in one of the eternities we visit toward the climax of the film. Credit must go to cinematographer Ruairi O’Brien for creating such a rich and striking visual world.
While Eternity can feel a little long and filled with clichés, particularly toward the end, it is one of the rare rom-coms that offers something different along the way. It is not overly romanticised or focused on drama for its own sake. Instead, it is deeply relatable and will leave audiences hugging their loved ones a little tighter. It may even inspire people to appreciate what they have a little more as they reflect on the silly inside jokes and memories they have created together.
