Eternity has all the markings of a perfect movie, but it’s sadly predictable—exceptional, in a lot of ways, but predictable. And the way to make it stand out? Simple: a throuple. Double or nothing. In the year of our lord 2025, if we’re going to touch on the love triangle trope, make it a throuple. Let your Challengers flag fly high. And for a second there, with various comments along with the turn of events, I thought the movie might actually go there. Instead, the person I imagined she’d choose ended up being the one in the end. But I suppose that’s fine, too.
Ultimately, and more than anything, the reason David Freyne’s Eternity is going to be remembered is because of the performances. The concept is riveting throughout, and the screenplay is so sharp, it’s bound to make viewers laugh out loud multiple times, but it’s the performances that fire on all cylinders. Elizabeth Olsen, Callum Turner, Miles Teller, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, and John Early each deliver something unforgettable. They bring something so exceptional to every frame they’re in that it carefully ensures the dialogue sticks and the emotions hit hard and fast.
Olsen is the undeniable standout throughout as the center of the narrative, allowing every bit of Eternity to radiate as one of her best performances to date. How she carries herself through the strange circumstances, grief, and longing is so utterly mesmerizing that her every expression has the means to crack you wide open. And interestingly, while the plot is indeed predictable for someone who knows the formula, how Olsen takes us through the emotions is what keeps you on the edge of your seat. Every gaze, every small shift in her body, the different smiles she wears all show us the depth of how she’s a woman in a truly impossible situation. It pulls us right into the deepest corridors of her heart as we walk through the memories with her and empathize with every little thing she’s experiencing.
As a movie, Eternity poses an interesting and rare concept. It’s not like The Good Place, nor is it really similar to much of what we’ve seen in other narratives that take us through an afterlife. And because of this, where it succeeds is in its captivating means of touching on urgency. We feel the weight of the seven days in the decision these characters have to make, and we can fully understand that the situation they’re in is unique, even without the ridiculously hilarious dialogue telling us so. This detail is also part of the reason why it’s soulfully evocative, even while it’s predictable, because the performances ensure that what we’re seeing is bigger than any of them thought possible.
It’s bigger than what any of them thought possible because, really, what is an eternal love and how does it manifest in the afterlife? Does it stay? Does it change? Eternity asks all these questions while simultaneously taking the characters through scenarios where it’s easy to exist in the space with them. And again, the performances scream the loudest on all fronts. Because both Turner and Teller do an incredible job of making us feel for their characters, too. They do a thorough job of allowing us to understand each of them beyond the surface level of what we know, and that’s exactly what makes the dynamics special. It’s what makes it work.
Truly, the signs of a throuple were laid bare. Everything is on the table. This would’ve been a god-tier movie if that were the case. Still, it’s one of the best of the year, and a solid rom-com, too.
Eternity is now playing in theaters.
First Featured Image Credit: ©A24