Director Ron Howard has pulled from harrowing real-life tales for several of his past films, like 1995’s Apollo 13, 2015’s In the Heart of the Sea, and 2022’s Thirteen Lives. He continues the trend with 2025’s Eden, based on the harrowing true story of a remote colony in the Galápagos Islands.
Jude Law and Vanessa Kirby play real-life couple Dr. Friedrich Ritter and Dore Strauch, who left Berlin for Floreana Island in 1929. There, Friedrich hopes to build a new life, one free of the economic woes and rising fascism of Germany.
As time passes, more people join Friedrich and Dore in their commune, including Heinz Wittmer (Daniel Brühl) and his wife Margaret (Sydney Sweeney), as well as the extravagant Eloise Bosquet de Wagner Wehrhorn (Ana de Armas) and her two lovers (Toby Wallace and Felix Kammerer). The latter trio brings hedonistic chaos to the island, clashing with Friedrich’s worldview and setting the stage for a major showdown. Trapped on an isolated island, these volunteer survivalists may soon discover that they are each other’s own worst threats.
The first teaser for Eden highlights the would-be paradise’s descent into madness, full of knife fights, gunshots, and agonized screaming. (Don’t forget the beautiful landscapes of the Galápagos, though!)
However, the final product might not be as thrilling as the teaser would have you hope. In his review out of Eden‘s premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival, contributing writer Siddhant Adlakha wrote, “The star-studded drama is a dud. It has little by way of theme or rigorous meaning, and is told with one of the most offensively dull color palettes digital cinema has to offer… It’s hard not to wonder how it ended up being presented in its final state.”
