"Eternity" Says the After Life is Just as Messy As This One
forever? forever ever? forEVAH EVAH?!
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I don’t have an issue with death, I’m actually kind of fascinated by it in a way.
Actually, my fascination doesn’t lie in death but the afterlife. Wondering if there is one, wondering if it’s the same for us all, wondering if what they taught me in church for all those years is what’s going to happen or if it was all a buncha crap.
When someone I love passes, or when life feels like it is doing SO MUCH, that’s when I think about the afterlife the most. I wonder if we get to continue in the same way we did on earth, but without the stress. Without the worries, without the fears, and for many folks… without the heartache. I want a carefree afterlife for everyone, especially those who never got the chance to fully experience that while alive.
So when I found out about Eternity, I was already in, purely for Elizabeth Olson. She’s on a Shelli award–winning run. With the exception of Love and Death…like, I’m sorry, but we should all be honest and admit that Candy was far better—BUT EYE DIGEST DIGRESS.
Shows like Russian Doll, Pushing Daisies, The Good Place, and the episodes of Black Mirror like San Junipero and Eulogy are some of my fav pieces of pop culture that explore death and what comes after it.
The Good Place (or what it was pretending to be) comes closest to what I imagine the afterlife might really be like—your fav things, your fav people, and your dream house complete with a fridge that always has your fav food at the perfect temp.
Eternity leans into that idea beautifully but also makes the afterlife messy, complicated, and hella human.
Larry (Miles Teller), Joan (Elizabeth Olson), and Luke (Callum Turner) all die and end up in an afterlife where you have one week to decide where you’ll spend eternity—and in Joan’s case, with who.
It’s like Challengers but everyone is white and dead.
I’ve actually never seen Challengers, so I don’t know how that love triangle plays out BUT in this story, decisions aren’t simple and choices must be made (and are).
What makes life after death stand out in Eternity is that it’s even for everyone. EVERYONE. Folks who “followed the rules” on earth hopeful that it would pay off, and those who absolutely the fuck didn’t and couldn't care less, all get thrown on an even playing field.
I can’t tell if I think that’s fair or not, but because I want the afterlife to be a paradise of all things good, I’m heavily leaning on not wanting anything or anyone bad involved.
But maybe that’s the human in me. Would I think it’s fair that someone featured on a true crime podcast and ME—A COMPLETLY PERFECT HUMAN BEING WITH ZERO FAULTS WHATSOEVER—both get the chance to experience a happily ever after? No, not really. But in Eternity, life after death has a pinch of the messiness that exists during life so maybe it’s not so even after all.
If you asked Joan when she was alive, if she thought she’d have to choose who was her forever love when she was dead, I’m sure she’d say no.
Joan and Luke. They were married first, but he died early in the war. After some time, Joan got remarried to Larry. They spent 65 years together, doing the thing so many folks dream of. They got a house, they had kids, and grew old together. While they were doing all that and minding their business just being alive, Luke somehow found a loophole in the afterlife—completely skipping over the one-week-to-decide rule—and spent decades working as the afterlife's most aloof bartender instead of choosing an eternity.
His plan is that when she arrives, they will finally spend eternity together—simple as that. She will fall into his arms, they will make out, they will be like “omigosh I MISSED YOU” and then live (die?) happily ever after.
It’s INSANE (because he is making the world’s biggest assumption that she’s been waiting for him)
It’s WILD (because he has no clue what she is doing with her life while he waits)
AND IT’S VERY ROMANTICCCCCCCCCCC!!!!
People are hoping someone they went on a date with three weeks ago will swipe up on their story. Meanwhile, Luke is willing to spend eternity waiting for the love of his life to show up. He’s 65-some odd years in…what’s one more week?!
The managers of the afterlife—including Anna (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), Larry’s “Afterlife Coordinator”—bend the rules to help Joan, but ultimately, the decision is hers.
Side note: I DEMAND A BLONDE DA’VINE JOY RANDOLPH GUIDE ME THROUGH THE AFTERLIFE.
Throughout the film, the messiness of choice keeps coming up. No matter who she chooses, there are consequences. One would be happy she picked him, but then maybe later ask why she needed time to think in the first place. Maybe the one she didn’t choose is left heartbroken for literal ever, wondering why not him. She could choose neither and spend eternity alone constantly wondering what could have been.
Eternity is a story about love, the choices we make, and the life we live, not knowing what comes after. Watching it made me think about whether believing in an afterlife or not changes how we love people while we’re here. Do you say everything you need to say and love hard and loud ‘cos you know you’re on borrowed time? or do you love a little quieter and focus on other things ‘cos you think you’ll have another life to live?
Anyway, the choices Joan makes are in fact…
But Eternity is streaming now! So go watch and tell me who you’re spending forever with!
Extra:
When I was writing this in bed, my fiancé said, “business business type type type” and I thought that was very cute and funny and supportive and sweet :)
These are just a few of the eternities lol
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OKTHXBIIIIII!!!
Love your take on Eternity. I enjoyed it as well. The movie asks the age-old question: Is what you have (or had) better than what you could’ve had? And vice-versa. Reminds me of the movie Past Lives (which I didn’t see but heard good things about).