Ivan Radford | On 14, Feb 2026

Director: David Freyne
Cast: Miles Teller, Elizabeth Olsen, Callum Turner
Certificate: 15

If you had to choose one place to live for eternity, where would you pick? And who would you pick to live with? Oh, and what if you were dead? And both your husbands were also dead and facing the same decision? Those are the many questions posed by Eternity, Apple TV’s high-concept romantic drama. At once darkly funny, quaintly satirical and earnestly heartfelt, it could have been an overwrought mish-mash of tones and ideas, but winds up somewhere entirely different, as if by magic.

The film hinges on an image of the afterlife that revolves around The Junction, a departure lounge where possible eternities are laid out like booths at a conference centre. The latest arrival there is Larry (Miles Teller), who has just choked on a pretzel at his grandkid’s gender reveal party. Leaving behind his wife, Joan (Elizabeth Olsen), who has terminal cancer, he resolves to wait in The Junction until she also passes away and joins him – so they can choose an eternity to spend together. The catch? Also waiting for Joan is her first husband, Luke (Callum Turner), who died in the Korean War.

When Joan does kick the bucket, then, she’s facing a tough dilemma – one that raises questions of love, identity, loyalty and companionship. At the same time, Larry and Luke face their own conundrums: Is young love better than a long-term relationship? Is it possible for anyone to compete with the intangible memory of a past love? Does having 65 years with someone mean that someone else who only had a few years should get a chance to see what might have happened over time?

The script by Pat Cunnane and David Freyne balances all these mysteries with a surprisingly delicate nuance, managing to give each sliver of an answer breathing space to flourish into something fleetingly substantial. Unlike Eternity’s take on the afterlife, each possible plot resolution doesn’t exclude or crowd out the others – the film confidently sits in the muddle and confusion of options just long enough to let us feel the weight of them. It’s a gorgeously evocative and vulnerable bit of writing that places a lot of baggage on Joan to choose a heavenly husband – but also calls out how unfair and sexist that is.

The cast are superb, with Elizabeth Olsen once again proving one of the most honest actors out there, particularly when it comes to navigating grief and loss. She’s feisty, afraid, angry, sad and hopelessly in love all at once – and has believable chemistry with every co-star and prop going. Callum Turner is dashing and devoted as the soldier who waited, but undercuts that storybook perfection with a convincing vein of frustration and entitlement. Miles Teller, meanwhile, has all the grumpy cynicism of an octogenarian but balances it with a humour and affection that just about counters his childish insecurity.

Between the trio, John Early and Da’Vine Joy Randolph are genuinely amusing as two Junction workers meddling to get their own client on top – if only to make their own lives in limbo more entertaining. David Freyne’s direction has a lot of fun with the parade of potential eternities on offer – the production design is one of the most imaginative you’ll see this year – and the cinematography has the unworldly quality of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, turning each snippet of the afterlife into something quietly stunning.

But before the ideas can get tied up in their own intricacies, Freyne smartly keeps the focus on our core cast. The result is a grounded yet ethereal comedy that has all the wonder of A Matter of Life and Death and all the playful profundity of The Truman Show. It’s an original and charmingly old-fashioned affair that wears its heart and humour on its sleeve. Magic? That about sums it up.

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