June 22

Movie 22

Today’s June Swoon 5 film is one that I am torn about. It was on Apple TV and it was entitled Eternity, starring Elizabeth Olson, Miles Teller and Callum Turner.

According to IMDB, “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.“

Elizabeth Olson played Joan, who spent 65 years married to Larry, played by Miles Teller. Larry died before Joan, as he choked on a pretzel. Joan died soon after from a terminal cancer. Joan was married once before to Luke, played by Callum Turner, who died during the Korean War.

When someone died, there is a waiting area where souls have to decide where their eternity is going to be spent. However, Luke had waited for Joan and now she had to make a decision between her first love and the man she spent her entrie life with.

There were several specific details that bothered me about this premise that stuck with me through the film. The entire idea of this afterlife bugged me. A soul has to pick an eternity and cannot change that choice. That means that you may never see family or friends unless they chose the same eternity. That was bothering me as the film moved on.

Another issue I have is the situation Joan is placed into by everyone around her. She had to choose between her two husbands and I think it is an unhappy premise of the story that was not something I liked.

All of these actors are great and they do excellent work, even though I am not a fan of the story. Da’Vine Joy Randolph played Anna, a soul who helps recently deceased souls with the transition. She was perhaps my favorite part of the film as she was wonderful once again.

The ending of the story, without any spoilers, was fair and helped to balance out my thoughts on the movie as a whole.

There were so many little details that bugged me about the film that it kept me from enjoying it fully. It was still a decent flick that I did not hate watching.