When you die you get exactly one week to decide how you want to spend the rest of eternity, so you can imagine the quandary that Joan (Elizabeth Olsen) finds herself in when she dies and finds both her first husband Luke (Callum Turner) and her second husband Larry (Miles Teller) waiting for her. 

Eternity’s rules for the afterlife are rather abstract. There is no such thing as hell and whether religion is true nobody knows, but you can include it in your version of eternity if you wish. When you die you find yourself in a huge hotel and conference centre where you have one week to pick an eternity, of which there are many to choose from. Once chosen, you can never change your mind. If you want more time, well you need to find yourself a job in the conference centre until you decide! 

I think I could spend an awful lot of time in this review just discussing that idea as a whole! Whilst there may not be a hell in this idea of the afterlife it almost feels like being stuck in any one place for eternity regardless of what you choose it may eventually become one. And then there is who you are with… because this idea makes keeping families and loved ones together rather difficult given you have a week from when you pass to move on. Anyone using this as a date night film please come prepared with a suitable answer to what your eternity would be and be prepared to find out that is not your life partner’s idea of a good time! 

To the plot then… Luke died in the Korean War after a whirlwind but short lived romance with Joan. He has waited sixty-seven years working as a barman in the conference centre for Joan to walk through its doors. He is seemingly the perfect man. Larry has been married to Joan for sixty-five years and built a life and family with her. But he is also someone who complains a lot and has made himself comfortable with Joan. Can Joan decide between the spark of young love or the life of familiarity? 

On the whole Eternity delivers a lot of laughs both thanks to its fascinating setup and likeable stars. Watching Luke and Larry spar for Joan’s affections is great to watch. Whilst Joan’s absolute bamboozlement at her situation is also a good laugh. There is also some brilliant observational humour throughout with all of the various adverts for different types of eternities available. 

The premise though is both hit and miss. I loved the idea and imagery of the conference centre and special memory tunnels that are available for people to reminisce about their lives. But it rather broke my tiny little mind that when you die you could choose between “Smoker’s World” and “Beach World” and an array of other places but not craft your own idea. Add to that the fact you would be spending your time with everyone else who had picked that world and the quote “Hell is other people” from Jean-Paul Sartre kept coming to mind. 

It is a fun watch but is it not one for the ages. 

I kept thinking of A Matter of Life and Death (1946) by Powell and Pressburger and Defending Your Life (1991) by Albert Brooks as better examples of a “romantic afterlife” movie.