Eternity is one of my favourite films of the year. The new A24 romcom written and directed by David Freyne and starring Elizabeth Olsen, Callum Turner and Miles Teller is a unique, witty and supremely fun take on what happens in the great beyond, in the afterlife - a place where you get to choose which ‘eternity’ you want to spend, well, eternity in. After arriving on a train to a giant, Grand Central-esque train station at the precise age you were most happiest in in life, all deceased humans are assigned their very own ‘AC’ (Afterlife Consultant) to help them navigate the 1960s style mega convention centre where they can choose which eternity best suits their desires. And what an array to choose from! ‘Beach World’ and ‘Mountain World’ seem to be the most popular and then there are more niche experiences such as ‘Studio 54 World - minus the AIDS crisis!’ Or ‘1930s Germany - minus the Nazis!’ ‘Men Free World’ is at full capacity. A vast consumer-driven flurry of sales folk pitch to the bemused, freshly deceased to decide where they will spend their eternity - the only catch is, once you’ve made your decision, it cannot be overturned.
In the opening scene of the film, we’re introduced to a bickering elderly couple, Joan (Olsen) and Larry (Teller) who are alive in life and who are driving en route to their future great grandchild’s gender reveal party. Larry has a penchant for pretzels and will, within minutes of the film starting, meet his maker, choking on a pretzel. Joan, we learn has terminal cancer. But just before departing the mortal coil, we also learn that before meeting Larry over six decades ago, Joan was briefly married to a soldier named Luke, who died at war. Thus sets up the most almighty love triangle when Larry and Joan - who dies shortly after Larry’s pretzel choking - are reunited in the afterlife, only to discover that Luke (Turner) has been waiting in the in-between, ‘The Junction’, for Joan for over 60 years, expecting her to choose to spend eternity with him. It really is a wonderful, witty and tear-jerking caper that will leave your whole heart feeling warm, fuzzy and wondering which eternity you would choose - and most importantly, who you’d choose to spend it with. I caught up with Elizabeth Olsen (Joan) and Da’Vine Joy Randolph, who plays Larry’s AC, Anna.
The trio we knew we needed.
Congratulations both on a brilliant film, I loved it! Obviously there are many different forms of love explored in the film, self-love, romantic love, passionate love, marital love. But what do you both think the film's overall message about love is?
Elizabeth Olsen: I feel like the overall message going off of what you're saying is that all of those experiences are all valid at different times in our lives or just they could be valid at the same time. But I know that was important for David [Freyne], which is why making a decision like this seems so impossible when choosing between two past loves. And so I think that is ultimately what David hoped for people to walk away with, is that even the love of a eight-year-old girl on a crush or something that's also valid and they're all overwhelming and exciting at different times in our lives.
And there was one moment, Da'Vine, when your character Anna said to Larry, "Your great ordinary love." And that really stood out to me. Do you think that it's a film that also celebrates the ordinary?
Da’Vine Joy Randolph: For sure, and I think that's what's lovely about this movie and different, yet adding a twist right? Because I remember when I was younger, why I loved rom-com so well is because it was aspirational and I kind of kept this mental list of like, "Okay, when it's my time and I meet that person, they better do this, this, this." And my young dating years, I thought I was failing because I wasn't getting those rom-comy moments. And that's why I love this because I think there is a celebration of that. Ordinary love is all types of love, but that's equally as significant. I don't think we see that. I think a lot of rom-coms start that way as their ordinary like, "A girl, a guy meet-cute." And then it quickly gets into these fantastical big, big moments…But I love that this movie is consistent in that kind of ordinary love from start to finish.
EO: That's really why I fell in love with Joan and Larry just on the first read, before going into the afterlife, just their bickering in their car. I fell in love with that dynamic and their relationship and so that very quickly is what I connected to because it reminded me, I also thought of my own husband, if we're lucky to grow old at all, I know he will meet his maker by choking on a pretzel bickering in a car [laughs] I do know that that is the way he will go, and it hooked me then.
Also, the film explores death in a quite light and fun way, and what might happen afterwards, which is still something so often a taboo in our society. How do you think the film breaks the taboo?
DJR: I think in American culture, death is a little taboo. I think we're trying to break into discussing it. I think a lot of it's trying to be PC. And I do enjoy that other cultures, like Asian cultures for example, are very comfortable with it, talk about it all the time. And so I think if nothing else, what is great about this is that it's being talked about. And so I think the more you talk about and discuss it or express how you feel or the unknown or the scariness with it, the more of this, I think especially at least with American culture, the better because it's getting out there. It's less of a thing that we just steer away from because the reality is everyone to some degree has a lot of thoughts about it.
EO: I think this film and the themes in the film allow us to really understand what a privilege it is to get to grow old at all. Even though it mostly takes place in the afterlife, I think it really focuses on what is important to us during the life that we live. And we're able to do that by, I think showcasing such an absurd afterlife. It's not a very spiritual one. It's more consumerism it seems like, and more bureaucratic capitalism. But I think that backdrop, even though it's a very funny comment on where we are as a culture and a society, I think allows for that, that contrast of the really ordinary and sweet human relationships that we have in our lifetime to really be the thing we highlight. And it's only because we have that humorous contrast I feel to show it's really important.
It is set in a post-apocalyptic world where an assessor must determine your ability to be a parent.
Elizabeth, you have said that this is a dream role for you, and could you elaborate on that?
EO: I've always had a desire to want to grow old. I didn't have many grandparents growing up and I didn't have any really important relationships with a generation that is, I don't know, 80 and up. I didn't have that experience. And so I always thought of it as this exotic opportunity that only some people get to have. And so it's something I fantasised about as a really young girl. And then in other ways we get to pretend like we're so many things as actors and to get to pretend like you're 90 years old is just not something that happens that often.
I'm quite nostalgic of a time before the tech boom that we're in. And so I got to really lean into the mannerisms that I kind of went to in my life anyway that my friends always make fun of. And then also you get to almost prepare like you're doing a period piece in some ways, because the formative moments in Joan's life came from moments in the '50s when she was younger. So I got to go back to films that she would've thought as aspirational films for her growing up. And that was really fun for me. And I think that it informs someone's mannerisms and how they communicate and how they present themselves especially when confronting Luke for the first time in such a long time and what you return to is a totally different decade.
Obviously in the film when you arrive at The Junction, you are the age that you are most happiest. If that was to be the case, which age would you want to appear as an eternity?
DJR: To be honest, I think I would say now. Because it's not to say that life isn't difficult and things get hard and challenging, but I'm really proud of the woman I'm becoming. And I think of when I was younger and particularly women that I looked up to, and it's funny in a way, I have my own memory tunnel of women in my life and key moments. There were certain things that I... like the way that my aunt used to wear her rings and her bracelet, I remember I locked in and I was like, "Okay, when I get older." I have that memory tunnel of women and key moments of what it is to be a woman and the things that I look up to. And I see myself slowly evolving into that and I really enjoy that. And again, I really can't say enough of life is hard and I'm really proud of myself that I am able to still continue and push through, but not even push through but be in it…And I think to me that's a sign of maturity and getting older. I'm enjoying getting older. No, I'm really enjoying it now. I'm glad I'm enjoying it now.
And what about you Elizabeth?
EO: I have such a hard time I guess trying to quantify what age I would be happiest or what moment in my life I'd be happiest because…we look back to the past with nostalgia and we look forward to the future with hope and we are just kind of existing in between those two spaces. And so it's a hard question for me to answer, but if I were to choose one, it would be some version of what you're saying [Da’Vine}. Except maybe not actually this moment. I have a pinch in my shoulder from hotel sleeping. And it's been driving me crazy for 10 days! So I'm definitely not physically happy right now. I do think I would like to be very physically healthy if I come back and if this is the afterlife that David Freyne predicted for us all. I would love to come back energized without aches and pains. I would like to have my brain working very well. And yeah, those are the three things that I think would be physically very important to me to feel strong and with it.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarification
Eternity is in cinemas nationwide from December 5th.
