Khushi Jain straps in for David Freyne's thoughtful romance Eternity.
Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, is the romcom renaissance finally here? The death of the genre troubled me, but then the revival in the late 2010s was somewhat exhausting: sequels, prequels and spinoffs with plot holes and clichéd characters, suffering much like their big-budget, big-earning superhero counterparts. And the genre did not die alone; with it died the mid-budget movie and the practice of endless rewatching. So why am I writing this review of Eternity?
This Elizabeth Olsen-led TIFF film is centred around the age-old problem of a love triangle: should Olsen’s character Joan spend all of her afterlife with her first husband Luke (Callum Turner), who dies extremely young in the Korean War and has been waiting for her all this time? Or should she spend it with her second (and current) husband Larry (Miles Teller), the man she has children and grandchildren with, and who has been her companion for upwards of five decades? There is a second conflict in there, a bigger, subtler and more complicated question regarding the formal identity of the film’s genre: should a romcom be new, exciting and inventive like first love, or familiar, relaxing and comforting like a well-worn marriage? Eternity answers both of these, overcoming a few bumps along the way.
The afterlife begins in a space that is a combination of a train station, airport and hotel lobby, called The Junction. There, the deceased transform into who they were, when they were the happiest in life, and are each assigned an "AC" (afterlife coordinator). It's the AC's job is to help their clients pick a world to spend eternity in. These worlds are where the film's humour thrives. Cowboy World, Beach World, Infantilising World, Man-Free World (which is at full occupancy even in its 443rd edition), Medieval World, Space World and Smokers' World (because cancer cannot kill you twice) are just some of the many options available to the dead. The catch is that once you pick one, there is no changing and no going back. For Joan, the conundrum is not only about where to spend her eternity but, more importantly, with whom.
Callum Turner as Luke, Joan’s first love, is the charming, handsome, hopelessly in love, perfect man who has been waiting at The Junction for 67 years, working as a bartender. On the other side is Larry, played by Miles Teller, earnest and ordinary. Kildare director David Freyne is adept at representing Joan’s very different relationships with these very different men, seamlessly switching between sparky, butterflies-in-the-stomach chemistry with Luke and her habitual and easy companionship with Larry. Luke and Joan dress up and head out for a first date, while Larry and Joan do squats as recent octogenarians who suddenly find themselves in the youthful bodies of their twenties. When this trio is joined by the supporting two ACs, played by the wonderful Da’Vine Joy Randolph and John Early, the film bursts alive in all its chaos, delight and... romcominess.
Writer Pat Cunnane ensures that everything in this high concept afterlife is properly fleshed out, from Randolph and Early’s characters to the practical nitty-gritties of The Junction. His script, which found itself at the top of the infamous Black List back in 2022, is brought to life by the joint efforts of a top-tier crew. DOP Ruairí O'Brien (who previously worked with Freyne on, among other projects, Dating Amber) captures the work of production designer Zazu Myers (Fingernails, The Broken Hearts Gallery, American Woman) with bright colours and vibrant framing. Visually, Eternity is pretty and playful, and its style is not without substance.
Because the film works. And it works precisely because it is predictable. Most of what happens in Eternity comes straight from Hollywood’s Handbook of the Romcom. Trope after trope allows for a cosy little nook to settle into. So much so that even the film’s (arguably) only plot twist is less a twist and more a turn. But nevertheless the lightness of theme keeps pulling it forward.
Eternity might not be the renaissance of the romcom, rather a decent resurrection. It follows in the footsteps of films like A Big Bold Beautiful Journey, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, Materialists, Picture This and The Wedding Banquet (all 2025 releases), and shows like One Day (2024) and Nobody Wants This (2024–). In many ways, Eternity is new because it is old; this A24 production is entertaining, enjoyable and, like all good romcoms, inherently rewatchable.
Eternity is in cinemas 5th December 2025.
