Is being really lucky with love twice in one life too much? David Freyne’s new comedy, “Eternity,” playing at the Martha’s Vineyard Film Center starting on Dec. 12, looks at just such a dilemma.
The setup for this unabashedly romantic comedy moves swiftly. Joan (Betty Buckley) and her second husband, Larry (Barry Primus), amusingly bicker, as only a loving couple of 65 years can, while driving to a family gender-reveal party. Before entering the house, we discover that Joan has cancer, but she makes Larry promise to keep it a secret from the family for now. Once inside, Joan is given a box of old photographs. Flipping through it, she comes across a snapshot of herself and Luke (Callum Turner), her dashing first husband, who died in the Korean War. Within moments, Larry, who is popping small pretzels into his mouth incessantly, starts to choke seriously, and then it all fades.
The next thing we know, a much younger Larry (Miles Teller) wakes up in a train jam-packed with people of many ages –– all of whom, like himself, have just died. (It turns out, everyone in the afterlife reappears at the age they were most happy.) The crowd is herded into an enormous, futuristic convention center complex called Junction. The announcement on the loudspeaker states in an unnervingly reassuring voice, “Mind your step, disorientation is normal.” Dazed and confused amid the hustle and bustle, Larry tries to find out what is going on, only to be told by one harried employee after another that his “A.C.” will help him shortly.
Larry’s A.C., or afterlife coordinator, Anna (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), clues Larry in. He’s got seven days to select the eternity in which he would like to spend the rest of time. Once this has been selected, there’s absolutely no going back. Everywhere Larry turns, zealous sellers hawk an endless supply of possible afterlives, including Infantilization World, Sunset Eternity, Studio 54, Lord’s Eternity, Man-Free World, and so forth. Larry heads to the bar that evening, learning from the bartender that you can put off deciding where to spend eternity by taking a service position at Junction.
Larry struggles to make a decision, but finally does, heading off to an eternity in the mountains he believes will make Joan happy when she arrives. But right before leaving for his destination, he spots Joan (now Elizabeth Olsen), who, like himself, appears much younger. Their joyous reunion is interrupted by the bartender’s appearance. It seems that he is none other than Luke, who has been waiting for Joan in Junction for more than six decades.
A rivalry unfolds between the two men as each tries to win his wife all over again. Joan is thrown into a postlife crisis, facing the agonizing choice between the husband she has spent her life with and the one who promises her the life she could have lived. In the end, this tenderhearted comedy with its absurdist flair offers a charming pop vision of how we measure a lifetime of love and happiness.
“Eternity” starts screening at the M.V. Film Center on Friday, Dec. 12. For tickets and information, visit mvfilmsociety.com.
