ETERNITY

*CUT TO THE CHASE*

NOTE: This spoiler was submitted by Jeremy

The film opens as an elderly couple, Joan and Larry Cutler (Betty Buckley and Barry Primus), are bickering on the way to a gender reveal party for their pregnant granddaughter. They are preparing to tell the family that Joan is suffering from terminal cancer after the party.

During the party, the couple’s great-granddaughter finds a picture of Joan in her youth, where she is standing alongside her first husband Luke (Callum Turner), who was killed during the Korean War. Larry eats a pretzel and starts to choke, causing him to fall backwards onto the balloons (it’s a girl, by the way).

Larry (Miles Teller) wakes up on a train heading to an unknown location. He meets a woman named Anna (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), his “afterlife coordinator”, as she explains to Larry that he died after choking on the pretzel. The reason he looks younger is because everyone in the afterlife looks how they did when they were happiest (which is why some look like kids). He is taken to a hotel where the deceased stay for a week before deciding where they wish to spend their “Eternity”.

As Larry thinks over his options, he goes to the bar in the hotel, where, unbeknownst to him, the bartender is Luke. Larry mentions how he is waiting for his wife, and Luke has been there for over 60 years waiting for his own wife, which is why he has not chosen his Eternity yet. Luke also tells Larry that once someone chooses their Eternity, they are not allowed to leave or visit any other Eternity, and if they get caught, they get thrown into “The Void”, which is nothing but pitch darkness forever.

Larry settles on an Eternity in a sunny beach location, even though he knows Joan wouldn’t like it there. He writes a note that he hopes Anna will give to Joan when she arrives so that she may be convinced to join him. However, Joan succumbs to her cancer in the living world, where she also appears as her younger self (Elizabeth Olsen). Larry bails on the beach Eternity and rushes to reunite with Joan. Unfortunately, Larry discovers who Luke really is, and Joan is equally stunned to see her first husband in the flesh after 67 years. This leaves Joan in the uncomfortable position of having to choose which husband to spend her Eternity with.

Joan meets her AC, Ryan (John Early), who gets her settled in her room. Ryan appears to be steering Joan to choose an Eternity with Luke. Luke comes to Joan’s room and tries to spend time with her after so long apart, but she is still overwhelmed with what is going on. Larry’s attempt to convince her doesn’t work out any better.

Larry is moved to a smaller room in the hotel and gets Anna to help him get who he thinks is Dean Martin to perform for Joan since he was one of her favorite artists. Anna arranges for Larry to see a performance, but it’s just a celebrity impersonator with an alcoholism problem. The guy starts to pathetically beg Joan for attention until Luke comes to knock the guy out to defend her. Larry runs in after failing to be there for Joan and tries to make up for it. The two men start bickering until Joan orders them to shut up.

Anna and Ryan talk to the higher-ups of the afterlife and have decided that, since they are under “unique circumstances”, Joan can take a one-time repeat visit between Luke and Larry’s Eternities so that she can decide which one of them she wants to go with. The guys flip a coin to decide who goes first. Luke wins.

Luke brings Joan to a location in the rocky wilderness since she prefers the cold weather. After spending much time outdoors, Joan talks about her family life that she built with Larry. Even though Luke is bummed out about not getting to start a family with her, he is still happy for what Joan did get to build. Luke then takes Joan to a moving pictures exhibit that shows memories of their relationship, up until the day that she last saw Luke before he went off to the war. Luke is then surprised to see a memory of Larry proposing to Joan on the same docks where she last saw him. This causes Luke to believe that Larry made his proposal about Luke’s death.

Larry goes to find another recently deceased friend named Karen (Olga Merediz), who knew Joan when she was married to Luke, and later throughout her marriage to Larry. He asks Karen if Joan might have mentioned to her what it was about him that made Joan fall in love with him, but Karen doesn’t remember and says that Joan simply loved Larry, which he finds unhelpful.

Desperate, Larry and a reluctant Anna sneak into Luke’s unlocked room to try and find dirt on him. Larry finds hair dye and a porn collection, along with numbers from other women with lipstick marks. Luke finds them and scuffles with Larry, finding his note to Joan in the process.

Joan later joins Larry for his Eternity at a beach. They reminisce about their life and family. Larry regrets going before Joan and not being by her side in her final days. Even though he thinks the kids will be happy to know they ended up together, Joan reaffirms how hard the decision is.

When they return to the hotel, Luke presents the letter that Larry wrote, which Joan takes as a way that he was trying to trick her into finding him and joining his Eternity. The argument also causes Luke to snap over how he’s been perceived as a perfect partner when he knows he is anything but.

Joan spends her time getting drunk with Karen, while Luke and Larry get drunk and end up bonding. Larry admits to proposing at the docks on purpose and has always felt that he never lived up to Luke’s reputation, and Luke admits to being jealous of how Larry got to have a family with Joan.

Joan eventually comes to a decision. She decides to go with neither Luke nor Larry so that she doesn’t have to hurt either of them and can just live her Eternity on her own terms. She chooses a Paris Eternity with Karen. After another talk with Luke, Larry comes to a realization and rushes to the train station to see Joan. He tells her that she should choose Luke since he feels she was happiest being married to him. Joan tearfully hugs Larry goodbye. Larry goes back to see Anna and asks why she has stayed with her job. She says that she always wanted to help lost souls find their way, but she has spent so much time there that it feels like just a job now. Anna asks Larry if he decided where he would like to go, and he says yes.

Joan joins Luke in his afterlife, but she frequently sneaks off to the exhibit to relive memories of her life with Larry. Over time, she starts to grow bored and distant, even as Luke meets other people in their Eternity. Joan realizes that she while she does love Luke, the love that she felt with him was young love unburdened by responsibilities, but she enjoyed all of that with Larry. Luke is heartbroken but agrees to help Joan go back to Larry.

Luke creates a distraction outside the exhibit for the booth operator Fenwick (Ryan Beil), while Joan goes inside. She takes a key through the red doors and makes her way out of the Eternity, but she is spotted by afterlife guards and is chased through memories until she makes it back to the station, where she is now a wanted fugitive. Anna and Ryan (who are now in a relationship) see Joan and agree to help get her back to Larry, who has taken Luke’s position as the bartender. After reuniting, Larry helps Joan find a way to escape.

Joan and Larry go through the tunnel and into a new Eternity, which resembles their neighborhood in Oakdale. Joan says it’s perfect, and they walk into their new afterlife together.

In the afterlife, the deceased may choose which Eternity they wish to remain in, whether it's a paradise they have always wanted to visit or a familiar location. Larry Cutler dies and is later followed by his terminally ill wife Joan. Despite Larry thinking that Joan will join him in Eternity, they find that Joan's first husband Luke, who died in the Korean War, has been waiting for her so they can spend their Eternity together.

Two afterlife coordinators, Anna and Ryan, agree to help Joan take time to choose which husband she would like to go with. Luke laments not being able to start a family with Joan, while Larry has always felt that he could not live up to the standard that Luke set. After much bickering, Joan decides that she will choose neither man and instead go to a Paris afterlife with another recently deceased friend. Luke and Larry bond, which makes Larry go to tell Joan to pick her Eternity with Luke since he thinks she was happiest with him.

Joan goes on with Luke to his Eternity in an outdoor wilderness location, but Joan gets bored and realizes she enjoyed the family life that she built with Larry, while acknowledging that her relationship with Luke was young love. Despite being heartbroken, Luke agrees to help Joan escape the Eternity, which is against the rules. Joan becomes a fugitive until she reunites with Larry, with help from Anna and Ryan. The two make it to an Eternity that resembles their suburban neighborhood in Oakdale, which Joan thinks is perfect.