A24’s “Eternity,” starring Elizabeth Olsen (“WandaVision”), Callum Turner (“The Boys in the Boat”) and Miles Teller (“Top Gun: Maverick”), poses an impossible question: after death, where and with whom do people want to spend forever?
The film follows Joan Cutler (Olsen), a woman given one week after her death to choose where to spend eternity. Her options are endless –– disco-era Studio 54, a Parisian apartment, or a serene beach. But the real choice comes down to two men: Larry (Teller), her husband of 65 years and father of her children, or Luke (Turner), her first love who died in the Korean War and has been waiting for her ever since as a bartender in the waiting room to the afterlife.
Premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival and screening at the Austin Film Festival Sunday night, Eternity filled the Paramount Theatre with laughs, gasps and sniffles. It’s a romantic comedy about death, memory and the stories people tell themselves about love. The film feels anchored by Olsen’s quietly devastating performance and buoyed by sharp turns from Da’Vine Joy Randolph and John Early.
Originally appearing on the 2022 Black List of “most-liked” unproduced scripts in Hollywood, “Eternity” retains the charm and poignancy that made it stand out on the page. The screenplay walks a delicate line between humor and heartbreak, asking what it really means to choose someone forever.
Just when the audience thinks they know where it’s headed, Joan realizes that she can’t compete with the idealized version of herself Luke has held onto for decades, a version frozen in time. Her ultimate decision reframes the film as a tender acceptance of impermanence, not as a fantasy about everlasting love.
A24, the studio behind “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and “Past Lives,” continues its streak of heartfelt, high-concept storytelling with “Eternity.” Directed and co-written by David Freyne, the film turns a wild premise into something surprisingly grounded. “Eternity” feels successful for its sincerity, not trying to be overly clever or profound. The film simply sits with the uncomfortable truth that love and memory don’t always line up neatly.
With standout supporting roles from Randolph and Early, and a solid emotional core, Eternity hits more than it misses. The middle drags a bit, and a few jokes don’t quite land, but it’s hard not to be moved by its honesty. Instead of reaching for big, cosmic answers, it ends up saying something simple: love is meaningful because it doesn’t last forever.
4 forevers out of 5
