Film Review: Eden

Eden
Director: Ron Howard
Imagine Entertainment
In Theaters: 08.22.2025

It seems that awkward political controversy is in Ron Howard’s genes. The Oscar-winning director of A Beautiful Mind and beloved Hollywood liberal has been an awkward spot for a year now, ever since JD Vance, author and subject of Hillbilly Elegy (the book upon which Howard’s less than critically beloved film of the same title was based), became the replacement for Mike Pence on the 2024 Pure Evil Presidential ticket. As Howard worked to distance himself from that debacle, and made his next film Eden, starring Sydney Sweeney, there was no way that he could have predicted that the actress would become a pariah to the far-left and a symbol of “red-blood American patriotism” to the far-right (Vance himself spoke about Sweeney like she was his boyhood couch). The whole thing is stupid even by today’s standards, and after its lackluster reception at the Toronto International Film Festival last year, Eden didn’t need more baggage.

In 1929, Dr. Friedrich Ritter (Jude Law, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Star Wars: Skeleton Crew) and his partner, Dora Strauch (Vanessa Kirby, The Fantastic Four: First Steps), abandon Germany, rejecting the bourgeois ideals they believe have poisoned humanity. On the remote isle of Floreana in the Galápagos, Friedrich devotes himself to drafting his philosophical manifesto while Dora seeks to heal her multiple sclerosis through meditation. Their fragile sense of peace is shattered when superfans Heinz Wittmer (Daniel Brühl, Inglourious Basterds, Rush) and his wife, Margret (Sweeney), arrive on the island hoping to follow in Ritter’s footsteps. 

The good doctor does his best to drive them away by being as inhospitable neighbor as he can be, but it’s not long before more trouble arrives in the form of Eloise Bosquet de Wagner Wehrhorn (Ana de Armas, Knives Out, Ballerina), a flamboyant, self-styled baroness who proclaims herself the “embodiment of perfection” without ever even having appeared in a jeans commercial. The baroness brings with her two ardent and bickering lovers, Robert (Toby Walllace, The Bikeriders) and Rudolph (Felix Kammerer, All Quiet on the Western Front), as well as an Ecuadorian servant, trunks of evening gowns and grand designs for a luxury hotel. As this unlikely bunch of on Floreana proves harsh: the weather unforgiving, the wildlife unruly and the comforts of civilization nonexistent. Yet the island’s greatest trials are not natural, but human — neighbors driven by ambition, jealousy and desperation, whose schemes soon descend into theft, deceit and far darker acts.

Eden is based on a true story, including the accounts published by Strauch and by Margret Wittmer, though it plays a lot like one would imagine an episode of Survivor if it was directed by the late Anthony Minghella (The English Patient). It’s an often tepid melodrama filled with beautiful actors playing miserable people in a situation drought with hopelessness, jealousy and sexual tension, as well as the ever-present question the question of who will the last one on the island. It’s stunningly photographed by cinematographer Mathias Herndl (Genius, Halloween: Resurrection), and it gets a lot of points from me by virtue of the fact that few working directors can stage a sequence in the 2.39:1 cinemascope aspect ratio with more skill than good ol’ Opie Cunningham. There’s also a strong element of sociopolitical commentary in the story of people who try to get away from a world of people turned against each other only to instantly turn against each other themselves, and while it drags on too long, Eden has a number of interesting elements that kept me invested enough in the story to keep watching. 

Sweeney gives a strong performance in the nominal lead role, bringing humanity and relatable to the story’s most likable character — though “red-blooded” audience members are likely to be paying more attention to de Armas, who easily steals the whole film with her delicious portrayal of the wily and manipulative baroness. It’s a strong reminder both of how much she’s grown as an actress in recent years, and of just how strong an actor’s director Howard can be. Law is terrific as the pretentious and narcissistic Dr. Ritter, and both Kirby and Bruhl due stellar work. The functions of the storyline make it difficult to feel like we ever really get to know much about any these characters, except perhaps Margret — and while it’s easy enough to root for her to come out on top among this bunch, whether we ever care enough about her to justify sitting through an entire film just to determine that she’s by far the least odious of the bunch is highly questionable.

Eden isn’t a bad film, and if you’re nostalgic for the stodgy yet sexy Oscar-bait period dramas of the ‘90s-early 2000s, and the widescreen style, it’s worth a look. It’s hard to picture it standing out among anyone’s favorite films of the year, though it’s far more interesting than its most dismissive detractors make it out to be. If Eden had been able to find a little more focus or be a little bit shorter, or simply come in a different decade, it could have been a contender. It’s a film with a lot of admirable qualities that never quite gels, yet I found it to be enjoyable enough for a moderate recommendation. —Patrick Gibbs

Read more film reviews from Patrick Gibbs:
Film Review: East of Wall
Film Review: Freakier Friday