Dublin-born director David Freyne goes somewhere few Irish directors have gone before and made a rom com.
Eternity is the latest movie from the Dating Amber and The Cured film maker and it is a charming and whimsical affair, starring Elizabeth Olsen, Miles Teller, and Callum Turner as three star-crossed lovers in heaven.
In Freyne's vision of the afterlife, the recently deceased arrive via train to be confronted by hundreds of hawkers and salespeople trying to flog them their own choice of eternity, such as Man Free World, Tropical Paradise World, and Library World.
Review: Irish director dreams up celestial love triangle in Eternity
Teller’s character, Larry, who has passed away after choking on a mini-pretzel, arrives and is soon joined by his wife Joan (Olsen), who has been suffering from a terminal illness.
However, before they can plan their eternity together, Joan’s first love, Luke (Callum Turner), arrives on the scene, having held a torch for her for the past 67 years . . .
When I first heard about Eternity, I thought of Powell and Pressburger’s 1956 classic A Matter of Life and Death . . .
David Freyne: "I did my master’s thesis on A Matter of Life and Death so getting a chance to create my own afterlife in a film was like all my Christmases came at once. It was incredible. Those old films, particularly by Powell and Pressburger, are so beautiful, and so staggering and fantastical and getting to do something in that vein was a dream come true."
Eternity may be set in heaven, but the three lead characters are still wrestling with very human and earthly problems, aren’t they?
"I think the other similarity is that in both in A Matter of Life and Death and Eternity, they are both very bureaucratic after lifes, there is lots of red tape and things to go through, which I find really comforting - you die and you go somewhere that is quite familiar. But this is very much about people figuring out what was important to them in their lives and what love is to them."
You and co-writer Pat Cunnane must have a lot of fun coming up with the various eternities . . .
"It was really fun. I wrote a lot of them into the script and then you realise that you have to populate an entire set so I spent a lot of time walking my dog, thinking of different ideas. And what I like about it is that even though there are lots of ridiculous worlds, Man Free World is a good joke but also a lot of women would chose that. No matter how ridiculous they are, there is some wort of appeal to them, some sort of essential truth that would make it an eternity to somebody so we tried to make sure there was a hidden intent behind it all. But it was a lot of fun coming up with them - I think we ended up having 67 different eternities, a lot of which didn’t make the cut."
You drew from your own relationships for this movie - first loves, current loves and even your parents’ relationship with each other. Did you learn new things about yourself while making Eternity?
"We spent so much of our time when we were making the movie and talking to each other and to the actors about their relationships and our past relationships and our parents and grandparents. I think it’s made me much more appreciative of my partner and what love means to me now. It’s made me reflect on what’s important and made me much more contented in my relationship than maybe I had been and it’s also made me a little less scared of death. Having spent time in this world, I think I’ve learnt to think of death with curiosity rather than fear, which is death."
You really did well with the cast – Elizabeth Olsen, Miles Teller and Callum Turner . . .
"Absolutely. I still pinch myself. It’s extraordinary to get you dream cast, it’s extraordinary that they took a chance on me because I’m not exactly Christopher Nolan and I think what’s amazing is that when you get your dream cast, the big fear is that they won’t have chemistry but they got on so well and they had such extraordinary rapport. One of the days when we had all five of the actors together, everyone behind the camera had goosebumps – we could just feel the joy they were having in those moments playing off each other. That’s the gift."
This is a quirky rom com but it has very high emotional high stakes and it asks a lot of philosophical and metaphysical questions, especially in the third act . . .
"My favourite rom coms never hold back from the biggest jokes and the biggest moving moments so it was important to me that we didn’t hold back in terms of emotion. I think there’s always a big fear that if you have a big laugh you detract from the emotional punch but I actually think it reinforces it and makes it more powerful and moving. We went for the biggest reaction we could."
Eternity portrays a celestial afterlife but it is by no means a big budget production . . .
"No. The budget was bigger than on my other films and I was really privileged to have that support. Every penny was squeezed, we made sure it felt much bigger than it was, we wanted it to feel epic and cinematic. But we approached it very much like an indie film, we made it quickly and nimbly and that’s when a great cast and a great crew are worth their weight in gold because they really allow you to utilise every second."
Irish director in rom com shocker - do you think there is dearth of Irish film makers making movies like Eternity?
"Someone asked me recently to name my favourite Irish rom com and I couldn’t think of one, which is quite shocking because we have such funny writers and film makers. I love making films that are funny and moving comedy dramas. I would love to see more romantic comedies. I always hark back to Preston Sturges, Billy Wilder, and Nora Ephron. They were so smart but they wore the scenes and the heaviness with a lightness of touch that I don’t think we see very often and I would love people to really embrace it. People may see a rom com as a light and frivolous thing but there is nothing more important than romance and love. So I hope there is a resurgence in that and I’m really proud to be doing my own little bit and I hope to do more in that world."
Eternity is in cinemas now
