Eternity had its World Premiere at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival. A24 will release it in theaters on November 26.

Some movies entertain, others provoke, and a rare few leave you at peace, still thinking about them days later. David Freyne’s Eternity is one of those films. At once a love story, a fantasy comedy, and a philosophical exploration of what it means to live, it’s a film that takes a high-concept premise and turns it into something achingly human. It’s rare to find a piece of speculative fiction that feels this grounded, this relatable, and this moving.

Set in a not-too-distant future, Eternity imagines a society where purgatory is a hotel offering different forms of the afterlife. The catch, of course, is once you pick your afterlife, there’s no going back. At the center of it all are Larry (Miles Teller) and Joan (Elizabeth Olsen), a couple who died old. When Joan reunites with her first husband, Luke (Callum Turner), who was killed during a war, she faces a dilemma about who she should spend the rest of eternity with.

It’s the kind of setup that could have veered into the purely cerebral, but Freyne smartly keeps the focus squarely on the love triangle at its center. The story isn’t really about the afterlife—it’s about love, fear, and the fragile beauty of life after death. That’s where Teller and Olsen shine. Olsen, long one of the most compelling actors working today, brings a raw, searching quality to Joan. She makes us feel every hesitation, every flicker of desire, every pang of guilt as she’s torn over her two loves. Teller, meanwhile, grounds the movie with warmth and conviction. His Larry is empathetic, morally firm, but never preachy. Together, they share a chemistry that makes the stakes of their choices feel devastatingly real. Turner is charming as ever and captures Luke’s mindset flawlessly: waiting decades to reunite with his long-lost love.  

Visually, the film is a knockout. Freyne and cinematographer Ruairí O’Brien balance sleek, colorful spaces with tender domestic intimacy. It reminds us what’s at risk, what might be lost in the pursuit of forever. There are moments of spectacle—one of which is Joan reuniting with her loves—but the film’s most powerful images are often its quietest: Joan seeing her memories through a carnival tunnel. The screenplay, written by Pat Cunnane, is sharp and surprisingly lean. Instead of bogging us down with fantastical jargon or endless world-building, it lets the dramedy emerge naturally from character choices. Issues of choice, privilege, and mortality arise naturally, never feeling forced. The dialogue is often understated, which makes the big beats, comedic and dramatic, land all the harder. The ending is the kind that hits you in the chest and lingers long after the lights come up.

That’s not to say the movie is flawless. The final 30 minutes overstay the movie’s welcome. The direction the movie takes and the decisions Joan makes prolong the movie longer than it should have. But even when the pacing dips, the performances and the atmosphere keep things engrossing. The pacing of the final act doesn’t drown the movie, luckily, as it wins its audience with a satisfying resolution.

What makes Eternity so special is its refusal to give easy answers. Plenty of sci-fi movies have tackled the allure of immortality, but few have done it with this level of nuance and empathy. Freyne isn’t interested in villains or heroes; he’s interested in longing, in the very human desire to hold on to what we love and the heartbreak of knowing we can’t. The film suggests that eternity might not be the gift we imagine—that our limited time is what makes life precious.

In a year filled with big-budget spectacles, Eternity feels like a breath of fresh air: original, emotionally resonant, and thought-provoking without ever being pretentious. It’s the kind of film that sparks conversation as soon as you leave the theater. Who would you want to spend eternity with? Would you rather be with your first love and see what could’ve been or someone you spent your life with? David Freyne has crafted something rare: a fantastical romantic dramedy that’s both brainy and heartfelt, anchored by two extraordinary performances.

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