by Franca Lafosse
Ever asked yourself: Would I stay with my partner of 40 odd years for eternity, or – if I had the choice – would I go back to my perfect first husband who died tragically in the war? Yeah, me neither. Until I watched Eternity. And let me tell you, once you start to consider these two possibilities, it really is quite the conundrum… Eternity is a long time.
Set in one of the most ingenious afterlife worlds, in Eternity after you die you are granted a 7-day stay at the Hub; station and your own personal Afterlife Coordinator (AC) to help you decide between the plethora of eternities; available, where you will spend the rest of your existence. The trains arriving at the Hub bring the newly dead to the station – each reincarnated as the happiest version of themselves during their lifetime – and the train departing are headed to any possible Eternity destination one could imagine, from lovely waterfall getaways to Germany in the 40s – Without the Nazis! Once you pick, there is no going back.
The station not only serves its practical purpose of transporting the dead from life to eternity, but it is also swamped with marketing banners and sellers pitching each of their idyllic eternities and why they are the best for You! It is a daunting prospect that the afterlife could so closely resemble the human traffic of a central station at peak hour, the overwhelming chaos and fake niceties of a market rush, and the agonisingly slow passage of time at a clerical waiting room. Larry, an elderly man played by Miles Teller who died choking on a pretzel, is the first in this story to arrive at the Hub. Anna is his AC, comically portrayed by Da’Vine JoyJoy Randolph.
Shortly after Larry’s death, his terminally ill wife Joan passes away, and arrives at the Hub too. Under any normal circumstances in the world of this film, it would be the perfect opportunity for Larry and Joan to choose an Eternity together. Except… that for the past 67 years, Joan’s (Elizabeth Olsen) first husband Luke (Callum Turner) has refused to choose his eternity, and has instead chosen to wait for Joan’s arrival for a second chance at a life together.
Husband of the last few decades, vs. dead husband from your youth… how can you possibly make a choice? Over the course of the next hour, we watch Olsen struggling to find the answer to this impossible question, and we inevitably reflect on our own lives, pasts, and decisions as she weighs up hers.
Though the thematic of the film may seem grim and the bitterness of grief is always looming around the corner, co-writers David Freyne and Pat Cunnane do a brilliant job of capturing the comedy of such an unorthodox circumstance.
Firstly, there is the rivalry that ensues between Larry and Luke, which is somehow perfectly balanced by a mutual understanding that the decision is ultimately out of their hands. And then, arguably even more comedic is the competition between Larry’s AC Anna, who has taken pity on him, and Luke’s AC Ryan, played by John Early, who has also been waiting 67 years for Joan to die so he can successfully send his client off to Eternity. Beyond the sentimental and comedic narrative that intertwines our key characters, the film also presents an incredible acting and costuming challenge, since the other characters roaming around the Hub could be from any era or age, even the age that they present as may not reflect the age when they died. Teller, Olsen and Early swiftly step up to this challenge, the first two ageing up their mannerisms and turn of phrases to that of an argumentative elderly couple, and the third traveling back in time to become a young soldier from the 1950s.
Full of existential qualms and impossibly ironic scenarios, Eternity is both a beacon of hope for the second chance at life that could await us after death, and a wakeup call to reflect on the way we choose to live our lives while we’ve got them. From the perspective of the dead, we get to see how each person is remembered for their best attributes, how easily preventable each of their biggest regrets are, and how their most valued possession becomes the memories they get to bring with them.