The Danish film, Eternal, gives us a sci-fi romance (or cli-fi romance, if you like, since the story is tied to climate change) where a mysterious fissure in the bottom of the ocean opens the door for its protagonist on a life that could have been.
The film comes from writer-director Ulaa Salim (Sons of Denmark) and stars Simon Sears (a.k.a. Ivan from Netflix’s Shadow and Bone) as well as Nanna Øland (a.k.a. the Danish pop star Oh Land).
Here’s the movie’s synopsis:
Young climate change scientist, Elias, falls in love with an aspiring singer, Anita. But when an opportunity arises for him to join a mission researching a dangerous climate change phenomenon—a mysterious fracture on the ocean floor—he chooses career over love. Years later, during his mission, he experiences a vision of what his life could have been like if he made a different choice and his new obsession becomes to get his old life and love back.
Those of who you’ve seen 1998’s Sliding Doors will be familiar with movies exploring the premise of the road not taken in life. That part of the story seems self-explanatory to me, though I can’t help but wonder how climate change caused this Georgia O’Keefe-inspired crack in the ocean floor and, by extension, how it gave Elias a vision of a life that never was? I’m probably asking the wrong question here, but it’s still a question I want answered, gosh darn it!
Eternal is set to premiere across theaters in Denmark this April. International sales are still in the works, so no news on when it will make its way to the U.S.
