So many romantic stories are filled with such purple prose that one is left to wonder if the writer actually ever experienced the ups and downs of amour in a real relationship. That’s what makes the new rom-com film ETERNITY well worth checking out. It’s romantic without being blind about the realities that affect a couple. And it seems more down to earth than most, which is saying something considering that most of the story takes place in the afterlife.
Indeed, a heavenly backdrop is the main setting for this movie, as it presents a sort of purgatory that looks a lot like a busy train station, full of the recently deceased trying to figure out their destination for eternity. That’s where Larry Cutler (Miles Teller) finds himself after his older self (Barry Primus) has died choking on a pretzel during a family get-together. Larry’s younger self is the idealized physical personae that he gets to assume in the afterlife, but Larry still feels like he’s in limbo as he doesn’t want to go anywhere without his beloved wife Joan who has not yet died. When Joan does finally pass, Larry finds her in the train station, and she too is her younger, more idealized self, played by Elizabeth Olsen. Now, they can be together for eternity, right?
Not so fast. See, Joan was married once before to Luke (Callum Turner), a soldier who died in the Korean War, and she now has a forever choice to make. Does she want to spend eternity with her first love, her longest love, or with neither of them? As Joan’s histories with both are examined in flashbacks recalling the journey of Ebenezer Scrooge in A CHRISTMAS CAROL or Albert Brooks in DEFENDING YOUR LIFE, we get a feel for each coupling just as Joan, Larry and Luke see things slightly different through the lens of time. It’s a credit to the clever screenwriting by Pat Cunnane and David Freyne, along with the deft direction of the latter, that keeps us wondering as both men are good choices, and the decision regarding eternity for Joan is a daunting one.
It all makes for plenty of entertaining tension, both serious and comedic, between the three, and even more hilarity is brought to the fore by their heavenly handlers played by Da’Vine Joy Randolph and John Early. They’re world weary after-life ‘tour guides’ who get very involved in their ‘clients’ decision-making, let alone provide a running commentary on all the bizarre events. The cast does well with this fun material, especially Teller who brings an “aw shucks” everyman quality to his character, and Randolph whose boisterous opining is quite the stitch.
The film goes on a bit too long as Joan struggles to figure out here eternity mate, and sometimes Olsen could use a little more madcap quality to her playing of the comedy, but most of the overall effect of this film is that of breezy fun. And it certainly provides food for thought about what it means to love somebody through all the years and iterations. “Till death do us part” are loaded words, and this film questions if any of us are built to truly last as a couple, even in eternity. That’s a daring question for a rom-com right there, and it makes this one worthy of seeking out.
