The afterlife can be a confusing place – at least that’s the viewer viewers see in David Freyne’s Eternity. In the afterlife, Larry Cutler ends up being his younger self (Miles Teller) and accompanying him is his AC. That AC, Anna (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), tells him he has a week to choose his eternal life. On his way, he runs into his wife Joan (Elizabeth Olsen) and both run into someone else. That someone else is Joan’s first husband Luke (Callum Turner), who waited 67 years to reunite with her. Now that the time has come, he doesn’t know what to say, and she wants both him and Larry. That means that both Larry and Luke are gonna be at each other, which seems like a hellish experience.
And because it’s only fair, Joan has a week to choose which husband to spend her eternity with. Freyne and his co-writer Pat Cunnane explore this love triangle while showing fantastical worlds. This film’s version of the titular eternities have some imagination to them – I want Queer World, obviously. All of these choices are available in two ways – either on TV or on booths like a convention. I’m letting go of the fact that Joan never chooses her own eternity and sees who fits. Eternity, then, shows the kind of afterlife aesthetics that Larry and Luke are into, which their wife Joan explores through long dates.
Luke chooses a mountain world, where he takes her to dates by a river, which makes her happy. Larry chooses a beach world, which draws the obvious crowd, but a boat ride gives them necessary peace. Eternity basically becomes Love Island but with more inventive visuals, revealing that its three leads are old souls (compliment). It makes sense for these three characters to be old souls but without making the film seem dated. This isn’t for everyone but it is for viewers and critics like me who like their analog technology. Its version of limbo or purgatory with its brutalist architecture and train stations also warms my 20th century heart.
Take the world building away and Eternity‘s heart is still beating, showing a film about fighting for one’s love. The film shows the right amount of flaws that both the male leads have, still making them sympathetic. Sometimes one has to break into another man’s basement quarters in the junction, this film’s version of limbo. Or at other times, one of these men finds out something about the other, furthering their argument. It then scales those flaws back at the right time as well, showing humanity within limbic souls. And that humanity means that sometimes, souls make sacrifices, letting their loves choose them or maybe someone else.
After a limited run, Eternity opens in North America this American Thanksgiving. #TeamLarry.
- Rated: PG-13
- Genre: Comedy, Fantasy, Romance
- Release Date: 11/26/2025
- Directed by: David Freyne
- Starring: Callum Turner, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Elizabeth Olsen, Miles Teller
- Produced by: Tim White, Trevor White
- Written by: David Freyne, Pat Cunnane
- Studio: A24, Star Thrower Entertainment
