Search - Eden on DVD

K. K. (GAMER)
Reviewed on 4/2/2024...

Interesting story!

A Garden of Love Grows at a Boys School

John O'Shea | 01/22/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Sometimes casting is all. Joanna Going is so believably beautiful that her face and her heart cast a spell over the viewer, and even as the voice of her spirit expresses her desire to be free of the body that slowly decays and then lies still in a long coma, we--and her husband and the young student who loves her--long to see her return to the boys and the grass of the campus she calls home. Okay, it's a corny story, but so's "Romeo and Juliet," and "Eden" affirms the value of life and the glory of love. You'll root for everybody in Eden; they're faulty, stumbling human beings who struggle with life, love and death in the best ways they know how. Everybody grows, and almost all viewers will cheer and tear."

It's one worth looking up

John O'Shea | 08/05/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I enjoyed this story about a woman with MS who uses her unique and rather puzzling gift for astral projection to escape her illness and her limited life as a 1950s housewife (or 1960s - I didn't catch the exact setting). Her husband really got on my nerves with his martyr attitude toward his ailing wife; he was so smug about how well he was taking the change in her while pushing her hard not to give in to her symptoms. Meanwhile, she keeps wanting to teach and her husband insists that she has plenty to do in the home. No wonder that with frustrations like that, she literally chooses to escape the world. Finally, at the end of the film, the information gets through to her husband that he can't keep forcing his wishes on her. The ending is truly moving and made me cry.I find the astral projection angle puzzling, though. Little was actually explained about it - little was shown. There was no mention of how long she'd been doing it or why she could do it when others couldn't. When did she start it? It was like some scenes were missing. I suppose the angle works if you take astral projection as a metaphor for something she needed and used for escape. It's just such a darn unusual activity that the lack of background information puzzled me. Also, a student living at her house kept mocking her behind her back by saying "Psycho-somatic" whenever she acted a little bit odd. Were we supposed to think that maybe she was imagining everything? I feel much could've been made clearer. Still, I recommend the movie. It's okay to be asked to use your brain and interpret for yourself."

The plot was the worst I've seen, but the acting was great

John O'Shea | 12/04/1999

(1 out of 5 stars)

"As for being a "spiritual" movie, it was extremly lacking. The entire movie was slightly akward and jumpy. The acting, which was supreme, was the only thing that kept me watching. However, that was excellent, expecially from Going and Flannery. The characters were obviously well developed and very in turn very well potrayed."