ETERNITY (2025)

Genre: Romance/Fantasy
Director: David Freyne
Cast: Miles Teller, Elizabeth Olsen, Callum Turner, John Early, Olga Merediz, Da'Vine Joy Randolph
Runtime: 1 hr 54 mins
Rating: M18 (Sexual Scenes)
Released By: Shaw Organisation
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 11 December 2025

Synopsis: In an afterlife where souls have one week to decide where to spend eternity, Joan (Elizabeth Olsen) is faced with the impossible choice between the man she spent her life with (Miles Teller) and her first love (Callum Turner), who died young and has waited decades for her to arrive.

Movie Review:

A rom-com involving a love triangle set in the afterlife? Well, we’re game just from reading the synopsis alone.

Director and co-writer David Freyne whose only directorial effort most of us remember is the little-known 2017 zombie flick The Cured goes in a totally different direction with Eternity. Here, Freyne packages a timeless, occasionally funny love story in a genuinely original setting.

The movie follows Larry Cutler (Miles Teller, with Barry Primus as the older Larry), who chokes on a pretzel, dies, and arrives at a place called “Junction.” According to his Afterlife Coordinator Anna (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), Larry has landed in a limbo where he must decide which “Eternity” he wants to go to though leaving the chosen paradise could get him banished to the “Void,” commonly known as Hell.

Days later, his wife Joan (Elizabeth Olsen, with Betty Buckley playing her older counterpart) joins Larry after succumbing to a terminal illness. But the biggest obstacle to their afterlife reunion is Joan’s first husband, Luke (Callum Turner), who died during the Korean War and has spent the last 67 years working as a bartender, patiently waiting for Joan to arrive on the other side.

One of the first things that stands out in Freyne’s afterlife is that “Junction” looks like a cross between the TVA from Loki and a worn-down Sheraton—vintage, busy, enormous, and not disturbingly flashy. In an era where Hollywood is obsessed with “world-building,” the production design in Eternity deserves a solid raise.

But hey, we’re really here for the affairs of Larry, Joan, and Luke. And on that front, it’s actually pretty good even for non–rom-com fans. Expect some emotional beats and a teary reunion to come after the lighthearted opening, as Joan is torn between Luke—the first husband she barely got to know and desperately wants to reconnect with and the man she actually built a life with. You know… kids, grandkids, the whole package.

Eternity also introduces a device called the “Archives,” where the deceased can view moments from their past lives. It’s probably more of a narrative shortcut than a truly innovative concept yet it ends up being surprisingly thoughtful. Sure, the final act drags a bit with Joan’s back-and-forth decisions stretched longer than necessary but the story remains compelling.

What really makes Eternity work is its trio of leads. Teller has the unfortunate job of playing both the grump and the goofy everyman but he does it so well that you can’t help but love his pretzel-related mishaps. Turner gets the easier role as the charming, steadfast war hero. But it’s undeniably Olsen who has the toughest task, playing a woman stuck in the emotionally thankless position of choosing between her first and second husbands. She conveys the tears, joy, and aching uncertainty of someone who finally deserves the things she needs. Supporting players Da’Vine Joy Randolph and John Early, meanwhile, land some excellent laughs and keep the film moving briskly.

Eternity isn’t without flaws: it’s slightly overlong, and its finale gets a bit too serious for such a trippy concept. Still, the movie sprinkles in enough well-executed in-jokes and afterlife humor like the rule that everyone appears as the version of themselves from when they were happiest, or the wide variety of paradises on offer. We wish there were even more of these endearing touches, but as far as rom-coms go, this one is both meaningful and amusing.

Movie Rating:

(Eternity brings an angelic, fresh angle to what could have been a tired love triangle)

Review by Linus Tee