Eden
Ron Howard and a star-packed cast take on a fascinating true story that suffers under the weight of its own melodrama.
Utopia falls: Daniel Brühl and Sydney Sweeney
Image courtesy of Amazon Media.
by MILLIE RITCHIE
It’s the 1930s. Fascism is on the rise and Dr Friedrich Ritter (Jude Law) has escaped German society with his partner Dore Strauch (Vanessa Kirby) to live on the isolated island of Floreana. Here they will live off the land, she’ll treat her multiple sclerosis and he will write his world-changing manifesto away from the bourgeois trappings of their homeland. That is, until Heinz Wittmer (Daniel Brühl) and his wife Margret (Sydney Sweeney) arrive, inspired by Ritter’s audacious experiment.
From the outset a sense of foreboding descends over the proceedings. The Nietzsche-quoting Strauch and the crochety Ritter are instantly antagonistic towards the idealistic Wittmers, fobbing them off with a seemingly uninhabitable plot of land. It’s an intriguing start, but it’s here that my issues with the film really begin to materialise. The elastic band of pressure that you would hope might stretch incrementally as interpersonal and physical strife take their toll, is already pretty taut before much of the action has a chance to unfold.
This problem is only compounded by the arrival of the ‘Baroness’ (Ana De Armas) and her two lovers. A delusional snake in the savage garden, she sets about spreading the corrupting influence of Western consumption and excess across the small community. With the tension ratcheted yet again, the director Ron Howard doesn’t leave himself much spare time to invest in the psychological depths of his characters. Things are hinted at, sure – the dynamic between Ritter and Strauch is particularly interesting as a dysfunctional cult of two. More insight into their inner life would have been welcome, not least so we could enjoy more of Kirby’s delightfully steely performance. Unfortunately, these threads aren’t tugged hard enough, and the characters remain largely cyphers.
This is especially frustrating given the film’s lofty ambitions. The Galapagos setting opens the door to Darwinian allusions, and indeed his theory of Natural Selection is referenced explicitly, as well as in shots showcasing the savagery of the natural world. One feels more could have been made of this if approached with a slightly more intuitive hand. As it is, it all feels as half-baked as one of Ritter’s philosophical outpourings.
Because the screw cannot be turned any further, the scenario quickly becomes overwrought. By the time Margret gives birth unassisted while being both robbed and threatened by wild dogs, I found my heart rate curiously stable despite a committedly sweaty performance from Sweeney. In addition to this, the Baroness lurches from annoying to cartoonishly evil during a lunchtime confrontation with the unhappy campers, complete with a villainous monologue. As such, it is somewhat unsatisfying to witness these characters descend into bloody discord as they seemed ready to bareknuckle from the outset. By the film’s close, after losing count of the number of backs being stabbed I, much like the Baroness’ acolyte Rudy, was keen to escape the island.
Cast: Jude Law, Ana de Armas, Vanessa Kirby, Daniel Brühl, Sydney Sweeney, Jonathan Tittel, Felix Kammerer, Toby Wallace, Ignacio Gasparini, Richard Roxburgh, Paul Gleeson, Nicholas Denton.
Dir Ron Howard, Pro Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, Karen Lunder, Stuart Ford, Bill Connor and Patrick Newall, Screenplay Noah Pink, Ph Mathias Herndl, Pro Des Michelle McGahey, Ed Matt Villa, Music Hans Zimmer, Costumes Kerry Thompson, Sound Wayne Pashley, Dialect coaches Tim Monich, Gabrielle Rogers and Jessica Drake.
Imagine Entertainment/AGC Studios/Library Pictures International/Medan Productions-Amazon Media.
130 mins. USA. 2025. UK and US Rel: 24 October 2025. Cert. 15.
