Jude Law plays a philosophic doctor with dentures in “Eden,” a historical drama that’s by turns bracing, glum and absurd. His character, Friedrich Ritter, inspired by a desire to “save humanity from itself,” and buttressed by a lot of improperly digested Nietzsche, has fled Germany after World War I to build a life on the island of Floreana in the Galápagos archipelago.
He and his wife, Dore (Vanessa Kirby), who has multiple sclerosis, live in a rough and ready style, growing vegetables that are easy on the gums.
Richter sends prose accounts of his lifestyle to a German newspaper, which turns out to be not such a hot idea, because when the movie begins his solitude is compromised by the arrival of a starry-eyed fan, Heinz (Daniel Brühl), and Margret (Sydney Sweeney), Heinz’s quiet wife.
If Friedrich and Dore aren’t too taken with Heinz’s schemes, the island’s growing population is further rocked by the arrival of a self-styled Baroness, played with maximum glam-queen entitlement by Ana de Armas and complemented by a few not-too-handy boy toys. Her exaggerated German accent at times sounds a little like Madeline Kahn’s in “Blazing Saddles.”
There are erotic shenanigans galore, and as the tension mounts, harrowing acts of violence. It’s a little surprising that these proceedings are led by the director Ron Howard, since this subject matter is more perverse than anything he has set his sights on before. The actors are up to the task, however. De Armas is particularly distinctive; she has a tight grip on her character’s venality, but also revels in her absurdity.
Eden
Rated R for language, violence and sexuality. Running time: 2 hours 9 minutes. In theaters.
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