Movie: Eternity (2025)
Production Companies: Star Thrower Entertainment
Distributed by: A24
Producer(s): Trevor White, Tim White
Directed by: David Freyne
Written by: Pat Cunnane, David Freyne
Starring: Elizabeth Olsen, Miles Teller, Callum Turner
Review by: Stefano Todaro

If you could spend eternity somewhere after you died, where would you spend it? And who would you spend it with? These are the questions David Freyne is trying to answer in his newest film, Eternity. Freyne’s film has an endearing premise: the afterlife is represented as a train station of sorts, somewhere where you have a week to decide what kind of eternity you want to live in. From there, you take a train to the world you want to live in. The catch is that once you decide where you want to spend eternity, there’s no going back. You’re stuck for good. Should you try to escape the world you selected, you’ll be sent to a black void. No pressure, right?

This conundrum is heightened when Joan, played by the always excellent Elizabeth Olsen, must not only decide where to spend eternity, but who to spend it with. Does she try to make up for lost time and go to the same world as her first husband, Luke, or does she continue “living” life with the husband she spent most of her life with, Larry? Although the setup is intriguing and the cast, which also includes Callum Turner as Luke and Miles Teller as Larry, is exciting, the two-dimensional writing squanders any opportunity for something special. It all starts with characters that are nothing more than just names and roles.

Joan is the wife, Luke is the first husband, and Larry is the second husband. Luke died in a war, Larry likes beaches, and Joan doesn’t like beaches and likes mountains. Unfortunately, this is as far as the character depth goes. The lack of meaningful character traits and identities hinders any connection a viewer might try to form with the people on screen. Sure, the idea of a love triangle isn’t uncommon, and differences as basic as beaches vs. mountains are parts of all of our lives, but the lack of specificity makes it hard to care about the outcome.

Even with so little to work with, Elizabeth Olsen shines as Joan. She commands the screen and makes the gap between other performances seem even larger. Teller and Turner don’t fare as well. At times, it feels like Turner is in another film, sometimes taking his parts a little too seriously. Teller’s performance also feels off. It’s a very rigid performance that doesn’t mesh well with the comedic lines of dialogue his character is given. Larry represents the everyman, but Teller doesn’t approach it with enough charisma or empathy to make you feel anything when you watch him work. It’s a rare misstep for the actors, but the screenplay and tone management don’t do Teller and Turner any favors.

Eternity tries hard to balance many things at once: it wants to be funny, it wants to be romantic, it wants to be serious, and it wants to be emotional. It’s a juggling act Freyne can’t quite land. The tonal whiplash leaves the film in a weird middle ground where it doesn’t quite succeed in any one lane. The jokes and gags don’t quite land, it’s not nearly as romantic as it wants to be, and we know so little about our characters that the emotional beats don’t hit. There are a few versions of this screenplay that might work, but the one we got doesn’t. I can see a successful version of Eternity that takes a shot at something darkly comedic, or even something that is a true drama that doesn’t delve into comedy at all. The uncertainty of the tone leads us to a finale that has just as much of an identity crisis as the rest of the film. It’s equal parts predictable, head-scratching, and unsatisfactory. Because the ending leaves us with such a sour taste, it’s hard to remember any of the good times we had.

5.2/10

By: Stefano Todaro