ETERNITY Review: Shockingly Charming Afterlife Love Story That Shouldn't Work, But Does

You've died. Instead of the pearly gates, you wake up at the end of the line as the happiest version of yourself, standing in a train station that doubles as a bureaucratic purgatory where you choose your ideal afterlife. This might be the sunny beach, or the tranquil mountains, or even a world where cigarette smoking is still the social norm! But once you pick, that's it; no exchanges or regrets.

This is the high-concept set-up for director David Freyne's Eternity. Larry (Miles Teller) arrives in this afterlife following a freak pretzel-choking accident, abruptly severing his 60-plus-year marriage to Joan, who's dying of cancer. So, not so long after Larry arrives at the not-so-pearly gates, Joan (Elisabeth Olsen in the afterlife) passes, finding Larry. And, shockingly, she also finds her first husband, Luke (Callum Turner), the impossibly dreamy Korean War casualty who's been devotedly waiting for 70 years for her to show up in the afterlife

Just moments after death, forever comes with choices, and the afterlife serves Joan a love triangle no living person could survive. This isn't heaven, but some sort of living hell.

Larry is overwhelmed, with good reason. Luckily, he is assigned an afterlife coordinator, Anna (Da'Vine Joy Randolph), who will help him decide how to spend his eternity. He can't decide. Shortly before his death, Larry and Joan bickered over his dream of spending some days on the sunny beach. Going back and forth with Anna -- and finding refuge in the afterlife bartender -- he decides he will go to the beach afterlife to start preparing for Joan's arrival.

Luke and Larry are certain the decision should be simple. One loved Joan for a lifetime; the other has been waiting an eternity for the one they never got to finish. In life, Joan's marriage to Larry was comfortably quotidian -- bickering in the car, raising kids, settling into routine -- while the memory of her young love with Luke remained electric and untouched by time. As Luke and Larry fight, supported by the best sidekicks around (Randolph's Anna and John Early's Ryan), Joan ultimately needs to decide.

Ryan and Anna concoct an idea: the two loverboys will each get their taste of the afterlife with Joan, and then she will decide who she will spend eternity with.

Eternity joins a lineage of romance films that crack the genre wide open to probe particular emotional terrain. 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. Here, Freyne uses Eternity to pit romantic idealism against the everyday realities of love. This tension feels like it should teeter out quickly, yet the film keeps you tethered to the love triangle because neither choice looks all that bad.

The only way this ridiculous premise works is the cast. Olsen delivers a shockingly moving performance as Joan, who communicates much inner turmoil through her countenance alone. She oscillates between panic and joy, nostalgia and dread. This role also requires her to play her younger self with the mind of an older woman. She just as easily falls into the machinations of young love with Luke, as she finds genuine excitement squatting with youthful hips with Larry. Her ability to channel two vastly different modes of affection is what keeps the dilemma believable, even amid the bizarre circumstances.

Freyne also excludes a lot of the trappings of love triangles, particularly how rom-coms often compromise the dashing loverboy with undeniably bad qualities. Like Olsen, Turner and Teller each tow the line between good and bad qualities, without going overboard.

Otherwise, Eternity avoids lulls in its "either-or" romance because of the delightful supporting performance by Early and Randolph. As professional rivals (and ex-lovers), the two have a chemistry that lights up the frame. It's comic relief so natural that it rarely distracts from the story at hand, but still adds some playfulness and self-awareness to the plot. It reminds us how much more we need Randolph in better movies than this year's despicable Bride Hard.

Eternity is the kind of film that could've gone sideways fast. It asks a lot from its audience to care. But it's shockingly assured, never straying far from its genuinely heartfelt purpose. Its bits of ridiculousness are grounded by thoughtful scenes and some complicated emotions.

Freyne ultimately tells a fairly straightforward story, and he manages to keep it on the rails without smoothing it out too much -- a tricky balance that few films like this have pulled off.

The film opens Wednesday, November 26, only in movie theaters, via A24 Films. Visit their official site for more information.