Eden
U.S.A. 2024

Opening 3 Apr 2025

Directed by: Ron Howard
Writing credits: Noah Pink, Ron Howard
Principal actors: Jude Law, Ana De Armas, Vanessa Kirby, Daniel Brühl, Sydney Sweeney

Ever since director Ron Howard, who made great movies like A Beautiful Mind and Apollo 13, spent a holiday on the Galápagos Islands fifteen years ago, and first heard about the so-called “Galápagos Affair” he was determined to make this intriguing true story into a movie. With a star-studded cast, beautiful cinematography (the main part was filmed on the Gold Coast of Australia, but a second unit compiled footage from various Galápagos Islands), and a music score composed by Hans Zimmer, who won Academy Awards for The Lion King and Dune, Howard made a film which unfortunately ends up being a mixture between Survivor and an Agatha Christie movie. None of the characters are the least bit likeable, whilst the storyline—although probably close to the true events, one can only guess—gets to be more and more preposterous. Also it is really irritating that the characters who are supposed to be Germans, are made to speak English with a somewhat absurd fake accent.

The story begins in 1929, when doctor and philosopher Dr. Friedrich Ritter (Jude Law) and his mistress Dore Strauch (Vanessa Kirby) turn their backs on the economic crisis in a Germany, which is becoming more and more right-wing and fascist, to settle on the uninhabited island Floreana, which is part of the Galápagos Islands. Ritter, an admirer of Nietzsche, Lao Tse, and Schopenhauer, is planning to write a philosophical manifesto in the solitude of the island, whilst Dore is hoping to recover from her multiple sclerosis. They came prepared with things to start off their dropout, vegetarian and naturalistic lives, up to the point of previously having their teeth pulled out (in fact, in the movie it is just Ritter, not Dora, just one of the inconsistencies).

As Dr. Ritter posts his articles to Germany, using a “mailbox” which is actually being emptied, when every once in a while when a ship comes by the island, these articles make front page news in German newspapers, so that one day, in 1932, a second German couple arrives on the island, Heinz and Margret Wittmer (Daniel Brühl and Sydney Sweeney), with their son from his first marriage, Harry, who suffers from tuberculosis. The couple hopes that Harry will recover from his illness on the island. When they arrive at the Ritter’s doorstep, especially Ritter is outraged at the invasion of his privacy. He sends them off to some caves, with no well water, but masses of mosquitos. However, to his dismay, the Wittmers are tough and full of determination, and manage to build themselves a “home”, better than what Ritter has achieved in all these years.

Just as there might be some peace, a third party arrives on the island: The so-called Baroness Eloise Bosquet de Wagner Wehrhorn (Ana de Armas) with her two young helpers. She proclaims herself the Empress of Floreana Island and tells the two stunned German couples that she intends to build a luxury hotel resort on the beach. What follows is an endless string of intrigue, fighting, deception, and deceit, culminating in murder. At the end of the movie several of the protagonists have disappeared (or have been killed, but this would be giving away too much of the story), and even Dr. Ritter meets a violent death, caused by food poisoning.

When the credits roll, we get to see black-and-white photos of the real-life people, and learn that after the death of Dr. Ritter, Dore Strauch returned to Germany, whilst Heinz and Margret Wittmer stayed on the island. Margret opened a small hotel and died there at the age of ninety-five. Her children and grandchildren still live there. Charles Darwin would have watched this movie about “survival of the fittest” with interest, and a quote by Friedrich Schiller from Wilhelm Tell comes to mind: “Even the most pious man cannot live in peace, if his evil neighbour disapproves.” (Ulrike Lemke)

Second Opinion

American director Ron Howard’s interpretation, accompanied by Noah Pink’s probing screenplay, takes artistic freedom with the actualities of what happened on Floreana, an Ecuadorian Galapagos Island in the 1930s, after WWI as the global economy ruptures. Albeit, corresponding with main points: humans’ interpersonal relationships and interdependence with nature. Floreana lacks amenities, is abundant in flora and fauna, insalubrious weather, and sandy soil. Eden? No surprise the characters central to this (real-life) unsolved mystery are women.

Dore Strauch (Vanessa Kirby), cool-headed mistress and ardent supporter, and Dr. Friedrich Ritter (Jude Law) are the first year-round settlers on Floreana in 1929. Their quest? Anonymity, solace. Also a philosopher, Ritter doggedly writes his esoteric paragon for modern mankind, they cure Dore’s multiple sclerosis (MS). They adapt growing their livelihood, disregarding hardships, and ingeniously concocting survival tactics, e.g., catching water. A shrewd egoist, Friedrich writes about his island; faraway newspapers pique Europeans’ imaginations with romanticized notions of adventure.

Wide-eyed, wise and innocent, Margret Wittmer (Sydney Sweeney) arrives with husband Heinz (Daniel Brühl), sickly stepson Harry (Jonathan Tittel) and anticipatory giddiness for freedom. Cordial to a point, tellingly Friedrich ignobly takes them to an inland location. Against odds and with unfathomable ingenuity, strength and determination they sink deep roots. Ritter is astounded. The German couples maintain their distance, civility. Margret begets a son against overwhelming outsiders’ nefariousness. Her pragmatism sets the family’s course.

Then Baroness Eloise Bosquet de Wagner Wehrhorn (Ana de Armas) arrives with her pliable, uhm, entourage—Rudolf Lorenz (Felix Kammerer), Robert Phillipson (Toby Wallace) and Ecuadorian “architect” (Ignacio Gasparini). Audaciously flamboyant and sexually exploitive, the “embodiment of perfection” is intent on building a “Hotel Paraíso.” Eloise and minions sow discord. Her acuity for pinpointing others’ secrets is predatory. Is the super-rich American’s vision (Richard Roxburgh) the only unclouded one? Allegiances form, resentments mount, the clique appropriates, thin nerves fray, sides are taken. Then it goes from bad to worse.

The excellent cast depict their characters to the nth degree. The atmosphere ebbs and flows with frustration, mounting tension and turmoil before an eruptive crescendo. The group, particularly Law and de Armas, arouse dislike, distaste that begs for distancing. Mathias Herndl filmed in Australia; Matt Villa edited Galapagos Islands B-roll in for ambience; a nice surprise is Hans Zimmer’s score fluidly blending itself into the drama. Eden, reminiscent of Lord of the Flies, is the adult version with cynicism, deceit, recrimination, and meanness. Of the initial group, less than half are accounted for by the end of Eden. (Marinell Haegelin)