SummaryA group of outsiders (Jude Law, Ana de Armas, Vanessa Kirby, Daniel Brühl, Sydney Sweeney) settle on a remote island only to discover their greatest threat isn’t the brutal climate or deadly wildlife, but each other. Based on a true story.
SummaryA group of outsiders (Jude Law, Ana de Armas, Vanessa Kirby, Daniel Brühl, Sydney Sweeney) settle on a remote island only to discover their greatest threat isn’t the brutal climate or deadly wildlife, but each other. Based on a true story.
All told, “Eden” is deeply engrossing throughout and is a compelling look at nasty, vicious characters cracking under trying conditions. The fact that all of this really happened makes this bizarre tale that much more intriguing.
The only weakness of the movie is that, because it’s a true story, it can’t rearrange the order of events for maximum drama. Thus, what is essentially the climax of the film comes about three quarters in, and the rest of it, while never less than interesting, feels like falling action. The good news is that Sweeney and Kirby get their best scenes, respectively, in this last section of the movie.
Eden is a movie about characters. Virtually all of them are not innocent nor good. They do whatever it takes in orderto survive, often manipulate, steal or even kill. They feel strandedand lost in this remote island where they begin to doubt themselves. For example, even the arrogant and selfish Baroness starts to question herself and her abilities after being rejected. Sure, its script is unfocused and sometimes gets lost , but again it's a movie all about the characters that are based on real people. And it succeeds in that regard.
I liked this film, especially considering the fact that it's based on a true story! The acting and direction are all decent, and the story is a good one. I'd've given it more, but for the dodgy German accents, lol! Well worth a watch though!
It’s a little surprising that these proceedings are led by the director Ron Howard, since this subject matter is more perverse than anything he has set his sights on before. The actors are up to the task, however.
The Galápagos affair has been shrouded in mystery for 90 years, but Eden doesn’t offer us convincing insight. It’s film built from obvious assumptions about what happened there, gained from a frustrating distance.
There’s trouble in this paradise: bleak without much of a point to make and bloody without any particular reason, this is an odd attempt at satire that takes a fascinating slice of real-life stranger-than-fiction history and somehow makes it less interesting.
Ron Howard amadurece seu poder narrativo e vai envolvendo o espectador em personagens bem construídos, mesmo que a cima do tom em alguns momentos, com o típico maniqueísmo que afeta a composição (especialmente em Ana de Armas). Deste modo, a proposta naturalista se esvai em um tabuleiro onde as peças realmente existiram (é baseado em fatos reais), de modo que o cartunesco faz jogar contra o filme. Ainda assim, é possível ter boas sacadas sobre nossas vulnerabilidades enquanto seres essencialmente sociais, e ameu ver mais para o lado pessimista mesmo da inafastabilidade da hipocrisia, do egoísmo e da violência humana.
Ron Howard delves into rougher and more desolate territory in Eden, setting aside his usual optimism to explore human deterioration in an isolated setting. The premise is strong and immediately engaging, transforming that microcosm into a field of constant tension, where ambition, vanity, and survival collide.With a star-studded cast, Jude Law and Ana de Armas manage to maintain interest even when the narrative begins to lose focus. The striking visuals and Hans Zimmer's score elevate the atmosphere to something almost hypnotic, a striking contrast to characters who become increasingly difficult to connect with.Eden has intriguing ideas and a promising start, but it loses its way along the way, alternating between thriller, satire, and drama without finding a solid emotional core. A beautiful, restless, and uneven film that tries hard, gets it right sometimes, and gets lost in its own ambition.Translated with **** (free version)
“Eden” is a deeply engrossing compelling look at nasty, vicious characters cracking under trying conditions. The fact that all of this really happened makes this bizarre tale that much more intriguing then the film itself. Eden arrives with all the trappings of prestige cinema: an acclaimed director, a stellar ensemble cast, and a stranger-than-fiction premise based on a true story of survival, ambition, and betrayal in the 1930s Galápagos Islands. Unfortunately, while the ingredients promise an interesting story, Ron Howard’s retelling never quite ascends beyond its petty squabbles and shifting alliances. The film follows Dr. Friedrich Ritter (Jude Law) and his wife Dora (Vanessa Kirby), who flee Germany in 1929, disillusioned with modern society and eager to build their utopia on the remote island of Floreana. For Friedrich, the isolation offers a chance to finish his medical manifesto; for Dora, it’s an opportunity to find inner healing from her multiple sclerosis through meditation and the simplicity of island life. Their hard-won solitude is quickly interrupted by the arrival of Margret (Sydney Sweeney) and Heinz Wittmer (Daniel Brühl), an idealistic couple determined to forge their future in the harsh but beautiful landscape. The final and most disruptive arrival is Baroness Eloise Bosquet de Wagner Wehrhorn (Ana de Armas), a glamorous, self-styled aristocrat with two lovers, an Ecuadorian servant, a closet full of evening gowns, and grand plans to build a luxury hotel. From the moment the Baroness sets foot on Floreana, the island becomes a crucible of clashing egos, shifting alliances, and quiet acts of sabotage. What begins as a shared vision of paradise devolves into a dangerous power struggle, where theft, deception, and outright violence become tools for survival. The stakes are heightened by brutal weather, unforgiving wildlife, and the isolation of a world far removed from help. This is probably the most intense darkest material Ron Howard has worked since the 2003 film "The Missing." Howard directs with confidence, and the production design vividly captures both the rugged beauty and treacherous isolation of the Galápagos. Yet despite its historical roots and inherent drama, Eden spends much of its runtime caught in the undertow of its characters’ petty grievances. The screenplay by Noah Pink never fully develops the psychological depth needed to make these rivalries as compelling as they should be. The result is a film that too often feels like watching neighbors bicker over fences rather than survival itself. The performances are uniformly strong. Law brings a mix of idealism and quiet arrogance to Ritter, Kirby adds quiet resilience to Dora, Brühl and Sweeney imbue the Wittmers with earnestness, and de Armas revels in the Baroness’s blend of charm and ruthlessness, there's one scene where she's dancing to the Carmen opera from an old fashioned record player with horn that is fun to watch. Still, the ensemble’s talents can’t completely elevate a narrative that loses momentum when it should be tightening the screws. "Eden" asks provocative questions about ambition, community, and the lengths people will go to protect their vision of paradise. But while the true story is fascinating, Howard’s film lands somewhere in the middle ground, neither a gripping survival thriller nor a fully realized character study. With this cast and subject matter, it should have soared; instead, it simply treads water.
DO NOT PAY FOR THIS FILM. it's pretty decent until the pregnancy begins, but becomes less plausible and less watchable as it goes. anyone with a brain would have given the celebrity lady concrete shoes well before the end of the first act as well, but the film seems focused on petty sadism. the story could be 15 minutes long and still have more depth than what there is to find in eden. i think any person interested in the topics this movie discusses should simply watch an island bushcraft video instead.