Love Always

Heaven has a sense of humor.

That’s one of the key takeaways of Eternity, a new movie that asks the question: If you could spend your eternal afterlife in a setting of your own choosing, which one would you pick and who would you spend it with?

The film comes from the studio A24, and it is, not surprisingly, a quirky rom-com that errs not on the side of mainstream romance but on the side of offbeat comedy, packing in so many subtle jokes that you either have to be an eagle-eyed viewer or a repeat viewer so you make sure you catch them all. 

In Eternity, the high-concept plotline centers around Joan (Elizabeth Olsen), who dies and must choose who to spend eternity with: Larry (Miles Teller), the man with whom she spent most of her life, and who died a short time before she did, or Luke (Callum Turner), her first husband, who died fighting in the Korean War, and who has been waiting 67 years for her to arrive in Heaven.

The film’s gimmick is that, when you die, you’re deposited by train at a giant convention-center hotel, at the exact age when you were at your happiest, and you have a week to choose between a multitude of options the eternity that best suits you. The options include everything from Sunset World (“Where it’s always Magic Hour!”) to Studio 54 World (“But without the AIDS!”) to Smokers World (“Because you can’t die twice!”) to Clown World, though that last one has been discontinued.

Once you choose a place that aligns with your interests and you go there, you can’t change your mind. That’s your eternity. And if you can’t decide on an eternity after seven days, you move down to a room in the hotel’s basement until you make a decision. You also have to get a job.

One of the job options is, apparently, Afterlife Consultant. Larry and Joan each have an AC, played perfectly by John Early and Oscar winner Da’Vine Joy Randolph. Some of the film’s biggest laughs come from the two coaches, who are in cahoots and in competition to get Joan to pick between the two men. 

What’s most winning about the movie is how the humor feels so tuned-in to the weirdness of the conceit. There have been many films that imagine what the afterlife is like — What Dreams May Come, Beetlejuice, and Albert Brooks’ Defending Your Life are three that come to mind — and Eternity has its own unique vision that stands with the best of those releases. Visually and tonally, the film leans into its vintage rom-com premise and its fantasy oddities. The sets — particularly that gigantic hotel, with a look straight out of the 1960s — are playful without being distracting. And again, the film is loaded with production details that demand a close viewing.

It’s all delightfully off-kilter, and typical of the A24 factory, which has released some of the most distinctive movies of recent years. (Thankfully, Eternity’s take on death isn’t as dark, depressing, or weird as last year’s Tuesday, another A24 film, was.)

And yet, for all its irreverence, Eternity has many moments of sincerity, which is a credit to the performances of the cast and to director David Freyne, who co-wrote the screenplay with Patrick Cunnane. Olsen (Martha Marcy Mae Marlene) brings emotional layers, making Joan alternately overwhelmed, wistful, confused, and empowered. Teller is goofy and sweet, someone you root for despite his misplaced confidence. The film offers a fun acting challenge to both: merging their characters’ younger selves physically with the speech patterns and, often, the crankiness of their older selves, and the actors do a nice job with it — particularly Teller, who gives his best performance since Whiplash.

Meanwhile, Turner (The Only Living Boy in New York, and also the future Mr. Dua Lipa) is heartfelt in his longing and slightly unhinged in his frustration. Luke has waited so long to see his great love again, and now he’s gotta deal with Larry, too?

It’s a credit to the filmmakers that, on the surface, the resolution could go either way, and that Turner and Teller are evenly matched physically, so the choice feels more real, and isn’t lopsided because Luke isn’t so much more handsome (and thus, a more obvious choice) than Larry is. As a result, it’s clear in every moment why Joan would have such a hard time choosing between the two.

The three together have great chemistry, and when Early and Randolph are added to the mix, it’s even better.

The film does drag a little in the middle; once the setup is in place, the momentum slows and the stakes settle into familiar territory, making the film’s length feel a tad bit stretched. You get the feeling that Freyne and Cunnane were similarly vexed by the decision of who to choose, that they may have done too good a job of making them evenly matched, and that when they figured out how they wanted the film to end, they then had to figure out how to undo what they’d already written. What it means is that, essentially, the film has three different endings — including one inspired by a character played by Olga Merediz (In the Heights). Had they stuck with that first one, instead of abandoning it so quickly, it might have provided more insight into Joan’s character — and even better, it would have made this film truly unique. Alas.

And yet, despite its imperfections, Eternity deserves praise for at least daring to be different. It recalls some classic high-concept romantic fantasies while giving the narrative a modern twist. The film is inventive, emotionally sincere, and consistently charming. It’s also free of religion or spirituality.

In short, Freyne and his cast have crafted something whimsical, warm, and just lovely in its eccentricity. I wish the film wasn’t coming out at the same time as Wicked: For Good, because it deserves an audience, and the witchy sequel will likely overwhelm everything else for a while.

Thankfully, Eternity has a promising afterlife in Streaming World waiting for it when its theatrical run is over.

I’m giving this film a B+.