Images courtesy of Darkstar Pictures
ETERNAL-– 3 STARS
LESSON #1: THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE DISASTERS— Disaster films that skip the hefty spectacle and focus on the smaller, personal elements are rare and appreciated. Don’t get me wrong. There’s a front row seat of big screen wonder to be had when films emulate Mother Nature or fictional obstacles rearing their ugly heads to remind us how small and fragile we are. However, we ultimately find ourselves caring about the people more than the disaster. When done well, the emotional catharsis of human stories within peril can be just as impactful as the escapism and heroics, all without sacrificing the heady science fiction of the premise. The Danish film Eternal, enjoying a limited theatrical release after a run on the festival circuit, has this particular sort of ambitious aim.
Taking place in the present day amid the rugged coastal geography of Norway, an earthquake centered near a cliffside lighthouse has created a massive and mysterious glowing fracture under the ocean. Initial examination points to human-created climate change as a chief contributing factor. Further scientific research into this slow-building calamity tracks a gradually weakening electromagnetic field matching the expansion of the fracture. This dissipation could bring drastic atmospheric changes and possibly the extinction of life on the planet.
Now, in sloppier Hollywood hands—the type that used to smash action figures and toy cars together when they were kids— this premise would bring all sorts of angles and initiatives dueling between pessimism and optimism. Would-be heroes would emerge among citizens, scientists, or political leaders pushing against the fuss, frazzle, and doom faced by their opposing contrarians and fatalists. You know the formula. Everything that could go wrong would, until the last possible moment of triumph or sacrifice. Eternal happily skips all of those tropes.
Ulaa Salim’s film centers on a would-be hero, alright, but a simple one in the budding scientist Elias. We are introduced to him as a young and single twenty-something played by Viktor Hjelmsø of Matters of the Heart. The fracture has occurred and weighs on the collective world’s mind for possible solutions. Elias, a top-of-his-class student, is heavily interested in joining that important mission field. His career trajectory slows down when he meets the lovely and feisty Anita, played by Anna Søgaard Frandsen of Dream State.
LESSON #2: DIFFERENCES OF DEDICATION— Elias and Anita’s hot and heavy courtship bathes Eternal in softly-tinted romance of pillow talk that peppers in their very different visions for their future. She’s a free spirit and aspiring singer seeking domestic happiness. When asked about the prospects of the fracture, she asserts, “Shouldn’t I enjoy life if we’re doomed?” Conversely, the more pragmatic Elias wonders how she could not care about the world in jeopardy. Serving in his field to solve this disaster is as much his unwavering dream as is hers to sing for audiences. Their differences in dedication, coupled with Anita getting pregnant and Elias heading to the United States for more school at MIT, end their youthful relationship.
From there, Eternal advances time approximately a decade later. The adult Elias (now played by Simon Sears of Netflix’s Shadow and Bone) has become one of the submersible pilots and top scientific team leaders for the Northern Partnership for Fracture Activities (NPFA) under mission commander Maria (Woman at War’s Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir). Detecting that the core magma within the fracture is changing and unsafe, Elias and his vessel partner David (Martin Krepper of A Cure for Wellness), in a tense sequence of solid production design and costume prop work merged with external visual effects, complete an initially successful underwater mission that seals the worrisome fissure, but not without more questions and ramifications to investigate further.
Nevertheless, the mission’s success has made Elias a national hero. One night while celebrating accomplishments, he sees Anita again (this time played by singer-songwriter Nanna Øland Fabricius, better known as Oh Land) singing at a polished nightclub establishment. They get a table to catch up, where, backed by a soulful score by Valgeir Sigurðsson (Little Kingdom), the woulda-shoulda-coulda body language and spoken reflections of missed dreams flow freely between them.
With great patience, this is still not Elias and Anita’s time. After another jump forward in years, Anita is a married parent of a teenage son, Lucas (Oscar Langer of TV’s Klassen), and a successful performer enjoying quieter time as a teacher. Meanwhile, the increasingly beleaguered Elias remains ever single and over-consumed by his work for the greater good. Their unsevered feelings can no longer remain unaddressed and unspoken. At the same time, the threat of the fracture is not going away either, creating a course of dramatic choices in Eternal.
In taking audiences through this singular past relationship of connection and regret, Ulaa Salim made and stuck to the choice of favoring a vulnerable mortal story over a larger exhibition. The edited passage of time is excellent, and the two pairs of actors playing our central lovers at different ages answered that commitment with commendable performances. The older halves portrayed by Sears and Fabricius get the majority of Eternal’s time and offer palpable expressiveness and streaks of sorrow. By the time Eternal stops to show Nanna Øland Fabricius singing her own “Deep Sleep” ballad, the commendable draw of affection is very present.
LESSON #3: BLENDING CONTEMPLATIVE ROMANCE WITH SCIENCE FICTION— Something is missing, though, and one finger points to the blending of the contemplative science fiction stakes established by Eternal. While, once again, the film is scaled down nicely from being something loud and bloated, maybe it’s too meek and mild. Not enough exposition or compelling situational drama is established to represent the kind of impossible pull or choice that separates Elias from Anita for a career path that canceled romantic promises. If the tension and direness of the global situation were dialed further, it would amplify the importance of what keeps them apart and make the intimate desire to see them be or stay together, against all the ominous risks, stronger. Something needs to drop our jaw and break our hearts at the same time.
LOGO DESIGNED BY MEENTS ILLUSTRATED (#1321)
