In David Freyne’s Eternity, the prospect of dying is far less frightening than what follows: a train junction where the newly departed must choose where, and with whom, to spend the rest of their afterlives. For Joan, this means choosing between the man she built her life with, Larry, or the love she never got to have with her first husband, Luke, who died at war and has been waiting in limbo for her ever since. With its creative premise and colorful production design, Eternity hearkens back to the charming fantasy worlds of an earlier era, nodding to the romantic comedies made by the likes of Ernst Lubitsch or Powell and Pressburger. And its modern humor mixes into this age-old dilemma to create a fresh, tender, and insightful portrait of what it means to love and be loved.
While it may be classified as a rom-com, Eternity has a surprisingly complex emotional palette. Its weightier themes of grief and unrealized chances work well with its lighter moments, largely thanks to the perfect cast. As the central trio, Elizabeth Olsen (Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness) as Joan, Miles Teller (Top Gun: Maverick) as Larry, and Callum Turner (The Boys in the Boat) as Luke are believable, likable, and dynamic. Together, they create many beautiful moments that continuously challenge the way you think about their characters and their connection to each other.
Their decisions come with plenty of stress, but the world built around them brings ample tonal relief. It comes as no surprise that David Freyne (Dating Amber) studied production design in school. He and production designer Zazu Myers craft a delightful and fun world that’s lined with endless booths where peddlers try to sell every eternity imaginable to new arrivals. From the initial train junction to the booths, pamphlets, apartments, and afterlives that follow, Eternity is packed with interesting things to look at and endless jokes built into its scenery. The only negative is that we don’t see more of these worlds. The film’s narrative and visual approach, although quite pleasing in its own right, is fairly contained and could have benefitted from more wide shots to better emphasize the scale of these places.
The structure of the narrative also lacks more of a setup. While the progression of the story makes sense for the film, the major beats and where they land feel somewhat unconventional. This makes parts of the middle more meandering and overlong. The ending, on the other hand, wraps up very quickly and could possibly use more explanation, even if it is ultimately a satisfying conclusion. But although Eternity may not be the perfect iteration of its high-concept idea, it is a really good one. Its creative design and charming humor pair with its genuinely hellish hypothetical to build a sweet and simple love story.
Hannah Tran
Hannah Tran is a filmmaker, writer, and friendly neighborhood barista from Las Vegas. She graduated from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in Film and English and is currently working on her first feature film. In her spare time, she can be found attending film festivals, running a local book club, and, of course, devouring as many movies as possible.