THE ETERNAL better viewed several times
If you're a fan of horror films and can recall the last 35 years of television and film horror movies then you will comprehend a better appreciation of this little gem. In my opinion this movie is best viewed several times to allow its atmospheric noir charm to set in.
The Eternal has become one of my favorites. The plot centers around an affluent New York couple who love each other very much and have lots of fun together like best friends because they're both functioning alcoholics. Yeah, that's some basis for truly being able to relate to one another. The roles are actually well-played with gusto by beautiful, former-Ford model, Alison Elliott, here in 1998 at the height of her beauty and by Jared Harris, a little known but accomplished auteur with a long list of credits to his acting resume, one of which I recommend watching, "Shadow Magic".
Deep into the movie when the movie reveals it plot around the dangerous spirit of a long-dead druid priestess aiming at resurrection by becoming a doppelganger of Nora, Alison Elliott's character. This plot would have fit quite nicely into the 1974 televison horror series, "Kolchak, The Night Stalker", under the theme of, doppelganger.
There are some unintentional funny scenes that surprisingly fit into the sometimes quirky nature of this movie. One favorite is when Nora's husband, Jim, starts acting overly funny at the dinner table in Ireland. Nora tells Jim that she would like to speak to Jim alone and excuses herself from the dinner table with her creepy uncle, played by Christopher Walken. You naturally expect Nora to scold Jim for acting the fool. Unexpectedly she doesn't. She grabs Jim by the lapels and demands, "Okay, where is it?" She knows in an instant that he has been drinking and holding out on her. Jim produces his metal booze flask and Nora grabs at it, trying to cop a drink.
Another funny scene is when the waife servant girl, Alice, asks the grandmother if she wants a smoke, then pulls a pack of cigarettes from her dress pocket and puts a cigarette in her little mouth and lights it then gives it to grandma. I found this unexpected and unexpectedly funny. I don't think the censors today would like the idea of a young child lighting up a cigarette.
There's another funny scene when Jim puts on a Tom Jones-like record at the Ireland mansion in a gloomy sitting room illuminated by a large, but uncheery fireplace. He starts dancing to liven up the mood. A glum-looking Nora looks on, but catches on to the spirit of the moment and joins in on the dancing, doing her best, hair flinging rendition. The scene may have been amusing but did help underscore the functioning relationship between these two dysfunctional married people.
On a serious note, the plot is somewhat convoluted but unwinds itself eventually. Christopher Walken's creepy uncle character has unearthed from a peat bog the 2,000 year old well-preserved corpse of a young druid priestess who had committed suicide. Well, you horror films all know the caveat about disturbing the dead. In no time the druid priestess' spirit latches onto Nora, intending to return to life by slowing replacing Nora as a doppelganger. The druid priestess in the historical flashbacks looks a lot like Jennifer Garner.
SPOILERS AHEAD.
Unfortunately, by creating a doppleganger replicant of Nora, the druid priestess is vulnerable to Nora's personality and flaws, which are used against the druid priestess. Jim tries to lure the doppelganger away by plying her with hard liquor, which works since Nora is an alcoholic and the doppelganger also has the same thirst for alcohol. The doppelganger kidnaps the couple's young son for reasons never explained in the movie. But experiencing the same maternal feelings for the son Jim, the doppelganger doesn't harm the boy. It becomes evident for us horror film fans that trying to resurrect yourself from the dead by becoming a doppleganger replicant of someone else is a flawed proposition since you not only look like the original person, you also cultivate their personality as well. The whole idea of coming back from the dead is to be your original self, not someone else.
SPOILER ENDING. DON'T READ IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW THE ENDING.
I liked the unexpected twist to the ending in which Nora finally defeats her doppelganger. The grandmother hints at the solution by mentioning self-sacrifice
Nora kills the doppelganger by pulling what I call, a reverse-voodoo trick on the doppelganger. The doppleganger has almost completed the transmigration of souls through its replicant of Nora. Nora knows she can't harm the doppelganger. It's a supernatural creature that can't be killed and also has almost superhuman strength. Nora slashes her own throat. But in the next second you see that she has not committed suicide. It is the doppleganger's own throat that is slashed. The souls have been switched. The druid priestess' soul is in the body of Nora with her slashed throat. Nora finds her awareness coming to in the doppelganger. Nora has saved herself, her own soul, her son and her husband.
ALISON ELLIOTT - What is so attactive about Alison Elliott is the intensity of her face. She's beautiful but is capable of giving such a hard, angry, "dirty look" on her face that she could stop any man in his tracks. She's a rare actress who can still look beautiful while looking very pissed off. It's too bad that her acting career didn't take off. She still finds acting roles and will be seen in the upcoming September 2007 western, The Assasination of Jesse James.