Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: ETERNAL RETURN [Toronto International Film Festival 2025 - Toronto, Canada]
Certain wistful romances quantify a suspension of disbelief in how they function. However if they hint a little bit at the supernatural, they take on a different connotation, as long as it is not taken too far. "Eternal Return" [Special Presentations] is very saccharine in its delivery but like "Daniella Forever" in a way seen at last year's TIFF, it understands a certain wistfulness in its delivery. The difference is that here it doesn't lean too much into a sci-fi concept but more into a mysticism of magic which is not necessarily true but exists on the very edge of reality. In that way, a lot of this film feels like "Amelie" but on a more grounded level. Naomi Scott, last seem in "Smile 2", here has brown hair but is at times mesmerizing. The film starts off showing the nature of her early adult life in that she sees premonitions and that leads to her love but then away (and this is before the opening credits). Director Yaniv Raz leans into this mysticism as she is almost reborn in a way when she meets Virgil (Kit Harrington), a map maker and, by extension, Malcolm (Simon Callow) who is on his own quest. Harrington underplays but also hides a little bit which gives his character an eccentricity (along with an accent). There is a slight feeling of "Last Christmas" but where that seemed to fail, this film begins to shine.
A musicality is the only part that seems almost forced but the dialogue within the film is crisp enough without going overboard. Scott plays Cass whimsical without being aloof but walks the line between understanding what she wants and taking hold of it. Harrington plays Virgil it close to the vest but offers little glimpses of what he really is feeling even though his heart is on his sleeve. But what makes this relationship work differently is the character of Malcolm played by Simon Callow. He shows the wonder of a life lived and is able to bridge what both of them might see. Without Malcolm (and Callow's fantastic performance), the romance between Cass and Virgil would not work. Granted the background of them going on treasure hunts per se while Cass really should be at work is a little flimsy but that can be forgiven. There is a little more magical realism in the delivery here but Callow mixes it with a sense of the mortal. The MacGuffin of the story which speaks to the "eternal" motivates everything in the narrative flow but also shows an inherent human quality which informs the resolution. There is a specific ending but it even would have worked with something more ambiguous because it is about those fleeting moments that we don't know if we can actually return to. Raz even says they shot multiple endings so it could be release like "Clue". That said, Raz is able to capture with location, music, his flying camera, some subtle and effective romantic cliches and some grounded performances a kind of positive, wistful and romantic film...and it does work. A
By Tim Wassberg
