Working from a script by Pat Cunnane, which appeared on Hollywood’s Black List of best unproduced screenplays, Irish director David Freyne is at the helm of an effervescent, idiosyncratic and irresistibly sweet screwball comedy. Eternity takes a love triangle to the next level, as its heroine is forced into a decision that will haunt her forever.

Elizabeth Olsen plays fun-loving librarian Joan. Entering the afterlife following her death from cancer she re-emerges as her younger self, and is immediately asked to choose between her curmudgeonly but kind second husband Larry (Miles Teller), who died shortly before her and with whom she raised a family, and her considerably more dashing first husband Luke (Callum Turner), a young soldier killed in Korea, who has waited 67 years for her to show up. Whoever she selects will be with her for eternity. The Holdovers’ Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Search Party’s John Early play warring afterlife consultants with a ‘sexual history’, tasked with guiding the participants through the process.

TV’s The Good Place is a key influence for a film that nevertheless benefits from an inspired and emotionally rich premise, while there’s endless fun to be had imagining the kinds of eternities that might be available to choose from (options include Beach World, Smokers’ World, Capitalist World and Pearly Gates: Classic Edition). As a romcom, it’s more successful and consistently charming than the recent, similarly innovative A Big Bold Beautiful Journey (how wonderful it is, though, that so much variety and intelligence is being injected into a tired genre: see also this year’s Materialists).

Eternity stutters a little as it tries to tie things up, but the script from Cunnane (and later Freyne) is delightful, with Oscar-winner Randolph once again the movie’s MVP, while Olsen brings a light touch and dramatic credibility. If her character’s journey is predictable, it’s surprisingly moving in amidst the surreal escapades and snark. This is a film that may well have you reflecting on your own romantic history.

Eternity is in cinemas from Friday 5 December.