Exploring the afterlife has always been on the minds of artists, be it ages of musings via literature and religion or just the past century of cinematic attempts at capturing what might exist beyond our current existence. A24’s latest romantic comedy, Eternity, posits that, upon death, a person must choose what kind of “world” they’d like to spend eternity in.
This kind of “end all, be all” decision partially constitutes the crux of the film’s anxiety, as in this brand of afterlife, there’s no changing your mind once the choice has been made. There are seemingly limitless options (“Queer World,” “No Man World,” “Beach World,” “Capitalist World,” “Weimar World,” etc.) offered up by this purgatorial waiting room and the workers that serve to guide the recently dead, but for the protagonists of Eternity, things are even more complicated than this final decision.
Director David Freyne and writer Pat Cunnane’s film throws a trio of beautiful dead folks into a fun game that extends beyond determining which eternity to inhabit forever, asking one woman to decide who she wants to spend the afterlife with. Joan (Elizabeth Olsen) is faced with a choice between her second husband, Larry (Miles Teller), the man she has spent the bulk of her life with; or her first husband, Luke (Callum Turner), who died during the Korean War and has waited nearly 70 years to spend eternity with her.
In practically every way, Eternity plays right into the most conventional possible routes it presents. The hotel in which these dead people must wait (or work) for their choice of eternity is the exact kind of celestial bureaucracy we’ve come to expect from most cinematic works about the afterlife (A Matter of Life and Death, Beetlejuice, After Life, Soul, et al.). Just as obviously scripted is its romantic angle, which never once actually considers any alternative lifestyles for Joan in her pursuit of happiness with either Larry or Luke (something that a queerer filmmaker might have taken great delight in exploring).
A24
The script is clearly aware of all the emotional beats that need to be hit, as co-writers Cunnane and Freyne are experts in the emotional manipulation that accompanies such a concept. Eternity could have easily been grating as a motion picture if not for the actual skill with which it is told. For one, the afterlife is presented with such verve and color that it’s hard not to get swept up by it. Costumes and individual “worlds” are bright and beautiful, as enticing as the advertisements that populate the purgatorial hotel. Salespeople try to pitch each of these worlds as an afterlife, with abundant background gags in their advertisement designs and taglines – the funniest of which might just be “Studio 54 World,” which offers cocaine samples and boasts that “no one has to worry about AIDS” because they’re already dead.
Freyne embraces artifice in every aspect, the most charming of which is the “archive” rooms, where memories are reenacted in front of crudely drawn sets. Similarly charming is how the hotel uses ridiculous backdrops and lighting to change the time of day for the dead in order to imitate some facsimile of life. Contrary to the minuscule glimpse at the life of the living that’s presented at the start of the movie, these facets make Eternity’s afterlife and the stakes that come with the decision at its core all the more believable.
The other thing that elevates Eternity beyond its relative contrivances and predictability is the cast itself, an astounding ensemble of actors that deliver both sincere emotion and comic chops. Da’Vine Joy Randolph and John Early are a delight in their roles as afterlife consultants (which they choose to stay in rather than selecting any given eternity world), even though they essentially exist to do nothing but serve the core protagonists. They’re a goofy, invested duo that never overstay their welcome, and also help lighten the heavier emotional beats of the narrative.
A24
With his handsome looks and lack of personality, which are once referenced as “Montgomery Clift-like,” Callum Turner offers less of a fully fleshed-out human being and more of an idea of an ideal man. As such, he’s arguably the least interesting presence, almost designed to be “perfect” as opposed to Teller and Olsen’s flawed but familiar humans. Those two get some help in establishing their personalities through Barry Primus and Betty Buckley’s brief appearance as the bickering yet loving older couple that they are in life. But everything about Eternity rides on both Teller and Olsen’s ability to convey the pain and joy that comes with spending a lifetime together, and, for Olsen in particular, whether it’s worth spending eternity with that same person.
Every time we follow Olsen’s Joan as she tries to make her seemingly impossible choice, we’re treated to the kind of performance that grounds a film like this. It isn’t just in her skill for comedy (which has been gravely underused in her Marvel era, save for the excellent Ingrid Goes West), but in the way that her eyes convey an overwhelming ache as she watches a fond memory unfold or she becomes frustrated at the behavior of the men who adore her. Olsen is the beating heart of Eternity, ensuring that David Freyne’s film ends up being as damn entertaining and compelling to watch as it ultimately is.
Release Date
November 26, 2025
Runtime
112 minutes
Director
David Freyne
Writers
David Freyne, Pat Cunnane
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