Many romantic comedies are considered classic. They are entertaining and lighthearted and usually give you an inside on how romantic relationships work between different personalities. But what happens after you find the love of your life and lose it? Do you wait until your death? Did you find a new love? The movie Eternity proposes these concepts.
Starring Elizabeth Olsen as Joan, the main love interest, she marries young with Luke, played by Callum Turner. They share young youthful love. Luke goes off to war and passes away. While grieving, Joan finds Larry, played by Miles Teller, and they fall in love, marry and grow old together. At the beginning Larry passes away first and ends up in the place where they have to pick an eternity. He trusts that Joan will pick the same eternity as him but before he departs, Joan passes and arrives to pick an eternity. She must make a choice between the man that waited for her for over half a decade Luke or Larry which waited for less than a week.
Each love is different. Joan and Luke have youthful love with no responsibilities attached, and they were both at their prime of life. Meanwhile, her love with Larry is long and has stresses such as raising kids, mortgages and they grow old and cranky. But the question the movie proposes is if your first youthful love waits for you for over half a decade do you pick to spend an afterlife with him, or do you stay with your lifetime partner even after having many differences?
This makes you think about how human connections work, whether time creates a stronger bond or happiness. It makes you reflect on yourself as an individual and on how you would react in this situation through presenting the exceedingly difficult choice Joan must make and could make you reflect.
It is a vastly different concept from the usual romcom because this scenario is a commitment larger than marriage; it’s an eternity. It also includes the forgiveness of human mistakes and picking between a fantasy of a memory that also has imperfections which is Luke the original husband. The second husband Larry a lifelong partner which although he had many flaws Joan still has a deep connection with.
Death is already scary this concept in my opinion makes it scarier because having two people’s feelings and destinies in your hands due to their devotion. Overall, the concept of the movie is extremely intriguing to me, and I think if anyone is contemplating their romantic life they should watch it. Maybe you will wait for a half a decade or perhaps you will just pick an eternity and go without having a second thought of what the person you love would want you to do. Whether you agree with the choice made at the end or not, you could reflect on yourself and learn from your own thoughts.
