This movie follows Jane (Sally Hawkins) who, after being left at the altar, had a breakdown spiralled into a chaotic episode of schizophrenia lasting twenty years in which love (both real and imagined) and family relationships collide. Things change when she begins a darkly comic romance with Mike (David Thewlis), a failed musician and fellow lost soul.... (Full plot summary below)
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This movie follows Jane (Sally Hawkins) who, after being left at the altar, had a breakdown spiralled into a chaotic episode of schizophrenia lasting twenty years in which love (both real and imagined) and family relationships collide. Things change when she begins a darkly comic romance with Mike (David Thewlis), a failed musician and fellow lost soul.
Leave your thoughts about Eternal Beauty.
| CineVueThomas AlexanderEternal Beauty, whilst it is not entirely devoid of cliché, provides a much-needed, deeply human alternative to the noisy and tragic narratives about hallucinatory derangement, terror, and victimisation that we may have come to expect from films about madness. |
| RogerEbert.comNell MinowThe muddled story-telling, a reflection of Jane's perception of the world, may frustrate some viewers. But those who can appreciate it as pointillist rather than linear will be able to appreciate fully Roberts' control of mood and the exceptional depth of the performances. |
| The Film StageJared MobarakWhile Eternal Beauty is oftentimes funny, it’s almost always dramatically profound and emotionally complex. |
| EmpireIan FreerA brilliant Sally Hawkins stands atop Craig Roberts’ perceptive look at mental illness. Small but beautifully formed. |
| The Hollywood ReporterLeslie FelperinCreating a highly unusual and welcome look at schizophrenia that neither demonizes those with the condition nor patronizes them as suffering martyrs, the British drama Eternal Beauty pulls off a tricky feat. |
| PolygonKaren HanThe film is, in the end, Hawkins’ to own. Her eyes — and her posture, her voice, her jittery movements — defy any show-stealing, and lend a solidity to a film that might be a little flimsy otherwise. |
| The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeRoberts relies heavily on imagery suggesting a confused reality ( characters are constantly fractured into multiple reflections) but the use of colour is an effective shorthand that clues us into Jane’s state of mind. |
| VarietyGuy LodgeWith an assist from Sally Hawkins’ valiantly committed lead performance, the result occasionally summons the genuinely disoriented perspective of an unstable protagonist, but more often, it’s the filmmaking that seems to spiral out of control. |
| The New York TimesGlenn KennyFor the first half-hour or so of Eternal Beauty, Roberts and Hawkins take an unusual and intermittently illuminating approach to depicting mental illness. . . . But the movie doesn’t keep up its good work. |
| User Reviewalexdave67Excellent performance from Sally Hawkins, becoming one of Britain's top drama actresses. The opening scenes are hilarious and the film holds this humour but also has a very serious and sad tone, due to the topic of mental illness. There are also notable good performances from David Thewlis and Penelope Wilson. Jane is the kind of character that you fall for and you cling to all her lines, even the little quiet one liners under her breath. Although there are good performances throughout, this is Hawkins film. Her posture, mumbling, dialogue and pure pressence capture the tortured world of her mental health. This film made me laugh loudly on numerous occasions and although there is a sadness the storyline, there was a big smile on my face from start to finish. Brilliantly mad. Loved it. |
