Eternity is one of my favourite films of the year. The new A24 romcom written and directed by David Freyne and starring Elizabeth Olsen, Callum Turner and Miles Teller is a unique, witty and supremely fun take on what happens in the great beyond, in the afterlife – a place where you get to choose which ‘eternity’ you want to spend, well, eternity in. After arriving on a train to a giant, Grand Central-esque train station at the precise age you were most happiest in in life, all deceased humans are assigned their very own ‘AC’ (Afterlife Consultant) to help them navigate the 1960s style mega convention centre where they can choose which eternity best suits their desires. And what an array to choose from! ‘Beach World’ and ‘Mountain World’ seem to be the most popular and then there are more niche experiences such as ‘Studio 54 World – minus the AIDS crisis!’ Or ‘1930s Germany – minus the Nazis!’ ‘Men Free World’ is at full capacity. A vast consumer-driven flurry of sales folk pitch to the bemused, freshly deceased to decide where they will spend their eternity – the only catch is, once you’ve made your decision, it cannot be overturned.

In the opening scene of the film, we’re introduced to a bickering elderly couple, Joan (Olsen) and Larry (Teller) who are alive in life and who are driving en route to their future great grandchild’s gender reveal party. Larry has a penchant for pretzels and will, within minutes of the film starting, meet his maker, choking on a pretzel. Joan, we learn has terminal cancer. But just before departing the mortal coil, we also learn that before meeting Larry over six decades ago, Joan was briefly married to a soldier named Luke, who died at war. Thus sets up the most almighty love triangle when Larry and Joan – who dies shortly after Larry’s pretzel choking – are reunited in the afterlife, only to discover that Luke (Turner) has been waiting in the in-between, ‘The Junction’, for Joan for over 60 years, expecting her to choose to spend eternity with him. It really is a wonderful, witty and tear-jerking caper that will leave your whole heart feeling warm, fuzzy and wondering which eternity you would choose – and most importantly, who you’d choose to spend it with. I caught up with Elizabeth Olsen (Joan) and Da’Vine Joy Randolph, who plays Larry’s AC, Anna.

Congratulations both on a brilliant film, I loved it! Obviously there are many different forms of love explored in the film, self-love, romantic love, passionate love, marital love. But what do you both think the film’s overall message about love is?

Elizabeth Olsen: I feel like the overall message going off of what you’re saying is that all of those experiences are all valid at different times in our lives or just they could be valid at the same time. But I know that was important for David [Freyne], which is why making a decision like this seems so impossible when choosing between two past loves. And so I think that is ultimately what David hoped for people to walk away with, is that even the love of a eight-year-old girl on a crush or something that’s also valid and they’re all overwhelming and exciting at different times in our lives.

Leah Gallo