Elizabeth Olsen, Miles Teller and Callum Turner just led, hands down, my favorite rom-com on the 2025 movie schedule. Their new A24 movie, Eternity, is a brilliant romance that’s set in the afterlife, giving it a fantastical and timeless feeling. So, after starring in this movie that takes place in another realm, Elizabeth Olsen explained why making a rom-com in the time we currently live in would be hard for her.
It’s also important to note that in Eternity, which again, is an afterlife rom-com, both Olsen and Teller play 90-year-old characters who recently died. However, when they appear in the afterlife, they're not senior citizens, they're 30-somethings. That's because when humans reach this place, they appear at the age they were at their happiest. So, along with playing out a story in an otherworldly setting, they were not playing their own ages.
While that sounds like it would be harder to play than a romance set in today’s world, the lead actress of the film begs to differ, as she told THR:
This might sound silly, but being 36 years old, I can’t really imagine myself doing a romantic comedy as someone in the modern world. I don’t really feel like I know how to capture pop culture of this moment, because I’m so distant from it.
You know, this makes sense. In some ways, I do feel like it’d be easier to play out a romance in a fantasy world rather than the real one. There are no expectations or standards you need to follow, and as Olsen said, you don’t have to accurately capture a real moment in culture.
Right before she said that, Olsen explained that the script for Eternity – which did evolve as they filmed to include more of the ensemble cast – reminded her of something her mom would have watched. I felt that too, while the other A24 romance that came out this year, Materialists, makes the modern day a vital part of its story, Eternity takes the time and everything that comes with it out.
So, Joan, Elizabeth Olsen’s character, isn’t using apps or matchmakers to date. She’s not having to deal with social media, and the pressures of modern society are not relevant to what is happening to her in this story.
Instead, she’s presented with a totally new and different problem, as she reunites with both her husband of decades and her first love, who died too early in the afterlife. It’s an ultra-unique concept, and a take on the rom-com that has restored faith in the genre for some.
For the WandaVision star, it gave her a chance to explore the world of romantic comedies in a way that took the reality we live in out. She was thrilled by that possibility too, as she explained:
But I felt like I could do this romantic comedy as a 90-year-old [in a 30-something woman’s body], and it felt like an opportunity that I wouldn’t have again. It’s something that feels unique to how I feel in some ways.
It certainly was unique, and despite its 76% Rotten Tomatoes score, Eternity is one of my favorite movies of the year. It’s such a sweet and special love story that’s also genuinely funny.
So, if Elizabeth Olsen really does only want to make rom-coms that aren’t set in today’s world, I’m totally cool with that. Eternity is amazing, seeing her, Miles Teller and Callum Turner play old folks in young bodies is fun, and this crazy circumstance they’ve found themselves in in the afterlife makes for one brilliant romantic story that you can see in theaters right now.
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