The Eternal Memory

Name: The Eternal Memory
Genre: Documentary
Released: August 11, 2023
Duration: 85 min
Rating: 85
Cast: Augusto Góngora, Paulina Urrutia, Trevor Oggs

2023

METASCORE

Universal acclaim based on 19 Critic Reviews

See All

USER SCORE

No score yet

tbd

VOTE NOW

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

tbd	Your Score
tbd	User Score No score yet

Would you like to write a review?

There is a 75 character minimum for reviews. If your review contains spoilers, please check the Spoiler box. Please do not use ALL CAPS. There is no linking or other HTML allowed. Your review may be edited for content. 0/5000

Check box if your review contains spoilers

Movie Details & Credits

MTV Documentary Films | Release Date: August 11, 2023 | Not Rated

Starring: Augusto Góngora, Paulina Urrutia, Trevor Oggs

Movie Facts:

Winner of the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival.

Summary: Augusto and Paulina have been together for 25 years. Eight years ago, he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Both fear the day he no longer recognizes her.

Director: Maite Alberdi

Genre(s): Documentary

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 85 min

See All Details and Credits

Watch Now

Stream On

Expand

Metascore

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

Critic Reviews

100

Robert Abele

Aug 18, 2023

What rings truest and richest about The Eternal Memory, as exquisitely humane a film as you’re likely to see all year, is what abiding love and stewardship look like in the moment: to care so deeply for someone as to tend to their memories, and to be loved so deeply that it’s the last beautiful thought one may ever need. Read full review

100

The Playlist Rodrigo Perez

Jun 30, 2023

It’s a striking and intimate piece of cinema, a heartrending tale of living with and battling neurological disorders, the love necessary to endure it, and the anguished dolor of remembrance. Read full review

The Daily Beast Nick Schager

Aug 11, 2023

A testament to the vitality and fragility of memory that itself serves as an act of preservation—of a prized past, a fraught present and an everlasting devotion. Read full review

Aurora Amidon

Aug 9, 2023

It’s nearly impossible to talk about Alzheimer’s without forefronting misery, anger and despair. It is a cruel and callous disease that destroys lives piece by piece. Perhaps the greatest feat of the courageous The Eternal Memory, then, is Alberdi, Góngora and Urrutia’s ability to broach the subject with all of these emotions—but with an emphasis on life, not death. Read full review

The Guardian Leslie Felperin

Nov 8, 2023

Sometimes God is just too on the nose when he makes his creations suffer; but at least Alberdi’s humane, profoundly empathic film-making offers some balm. Read full review

Guy Lodge

Jun 30, 2023

This insistent parallel between individual and national consciousness never culminates in quite the rhetorical kicker Alberdi seems to be seeking, but there’s power in it just the same: a reminder of how our best efforts to keep and curate memories — for ourselves and others — can be thwarted by time. Read full review

David Jenkins

Nov 10, 2023

It’s a pleasant film, albeit one which makes its point fairly early on and then restates it in various, sometimes sentimental ways. The film lacks for a strong narrative arc, and instead opts to filter stories and histories through the present moment. Read full review

SEE ALL 19 REVIEWS

User Score

Write a Review

tbd

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

User Reviews

bertobellamy

Aug 12, 2023

Maite Alberdi expands her narrative about old age with a heartbreaking story focused on the importance of memory. Taking the ex-journalist Augusto Góngora (diagnosed with Alzheimer's for years) and the actress Paulina Urrutia as study subjects, the Chilean does a simple but forcefulMaite Alberdi expands her narrative about old age with a heartbreaking story focused on the importance of memory. Taking the ex-journalist Augusto Góngora (diagnosed with Alzheimer's for years) and the actress Paulina Urrutia as study subjects, the Chilean does a simple but forceful reconstruction exercise in which her own protagonists create their own history reflecting on the past.

Alberdi lets Paulina assume something of the role of co-director by interacting with her husband, helping him remember who he is and who she is, which results in funny scenes, but others of absolute sadness; the documentary manages to capture in a very raw way what it means both to not know yourself and to see someone you love little by little disintegrate. The most distressing parts of 'The Father' here are a difficult reality.

Most interesting of all, Alberdi establishes a comparison with the historical memory of a country devastated by a brutal dictatorship, which Augusto and Paulina fought from their respective fronts. As the first said through archival material, memory is not to remain anchored in the past, but to be able to build a better future.

In the end, 'The Eternal Memory' is an absolute demonstration of love that reveals a ray of hope; Paulina will still be there even when Augusto can no longer recognize her, and that is as sad as it is comforting.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

SEE ALL 2 REVIEWS