Eternity (2025)
Directed by David Freyne
In an afterlife where souls have one week to decide where to spend eternity, Joan is faced with the impossible choice between the man she spent her life with and her first love, who died young and has waited decades for her to arrive.
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14 films that influenced Eternity
What critics say influenced Eternity
…the fact that this bureaucratic vision of death looks as if Beetlejuice’s afterlife had been designed by Ken Adam.
…un mundo que, conceptualmente, podría haber competido con la exuberancia de un The Good Place o el artificio meticuloso de Beetlejuice.
Freyne and co-screenwriter Patrick Cunnane flesh out the afterlife in a way that feels akin to the creation of the mind in Disney's Inside Out, or the afterlife in Beetlejuice.
The afterlife’s waiting room shares some DNA with Beetlejuice, as the recently deceased hop off a train and wait to meet their AC (afterlife coordinator) in a clinical lobby area.
Forget typical cinematic depictions of the pearly gates or Tim Burton's Beetlejuice dead-world weirdness.
Other afterlife rules (which are highly reminiscent of Tim Burton’s interpretation in Beetlejuice, but without the gothic aesthetic and horror elements) make less sense, such as the idea that each soul can choose only one paradise to live in.
Freyne’s treatment resorts to predictable and familiar notes, such as a chaotic chase through memories, reminiscent of the one in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004).
…there’s more than a bit of “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” influence in how Freyne uses memories to chart the course of a relationship…
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind turns the mourning of a breakup into a metaphysical journey, while Seeking a Friend for the End of the World filters romantic longing through the absurd calm of an approaching apocalypse.
The film reminds me of the world-building created in THE TRUMAN SHOW, mixed with the creativity of THE GOOD PLACE, and a hint of ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND.
…a sky that could have been lifted out of The Truman Show…
…the impossible love triangle of Casablanca was thrown into the campiest version of The Truman Show…
The film reminds me of the world-building created in THE TRUMAN SHOW, mixed with the creativity of THE GOOD PLACE, and a hint of ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND.
Desde su premisa, Eternity se ubica en una tradición que va de A Matter of Life and Death (Powell & Pressburger, 1946) a What Dreams May Come (Vincent Ward, 1998), pasando por Ghost (Jerry Zucker, 1990).
It’s all smoke and mirrors, sure, but there’s a certain comfort in a life after death where Patrick Swayze can still spin pottery! “Ghost” is for the lovelorn ceramics obsessives…
…an ambitious afterlife romance that could more neatly play alongside films of the era like Heart and Souls, What Dreams May Come and Ghost.
…fun fact: her breakout performance was in the Broadway production of Ghost…
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It's also one of the better theatrical romances to come out in a while, acting almost like a post-life Challengers, just with death instead of tennis.
From Challengers to Materialists, the love triangle has truly made its comeback, and David Freyne’s delightful romcom Eternity offers a refreshing twist.
The hotel in which these dead people must wait (or work) for their choice of eternity is the exact kind of celestial bureaucracy we’ve come to expect from most cinematic works about the afterlife (A Matter of Life and Death, Beetlejuice, After Life, Soul, et al.).
“Ghost” is for the lovelorn ceramics obsessives; “Soul” for the jazz lovers; “Beetlejuice” for the freaks.
…ese universo de Clueless, Practical Magic o La boda de mi mejor amigo donde el amor y la estética camp convivían con el melodrama.
Freyne and co-screenwriter Patrick Cunnane flesh out the afterlife in a way that feels akin to the creation of the mind in Disney's Inside Out, or the afterlife in Beetlejuice.
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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–).
A24‘s second major rom-com of the year, after the success of (the better) Materialists…
Some of the best modern romantic comedies use genre as a springboard into something more profound. Think About Time, which turns a sci-fi conceit into a rich reflection on love, memory, and the fleeting beauty of everyday life.