Watch at Home 01.24.2025

Eternal You

Directed by Hans Block, Moritz Riesewieck
Film Movement
2024
87 Minutes
Germany, USA
English, Korean
Documentary
Not Rated

What if you never had to say goodbye to a loved one? What if death and grief were concerns of the past? Filmmakers Hans Block and Moritz Riesewieck pose these questions and more while examining one of the latest major breakthroughs in AI technology – open language models that enable realistic conversations with virtual reality avatars built using characteristics of the deceased. In essence, bringing the dead to digital life. Through interviews with end-users, tech experts, journalists, programmers and psychologists, a broad and analytical account unfolds to reveal the far-reaching and often disturbing implications of this new technology. “A sprawling portrait of the emerging business that is digital afterlife technology,” (Rolling Stone), ETERNAL YOU both glimpses what the future of death in capitalism holds and examines what the human costs might be.

Director & Cast

  • Director: Hans Block
  • Director: Moritz Riesewieck

Where to Watch

Trailer

Photos

Reviews

  • "Fascinating…A frank exploration of a seriously hot topic."
    Nikki Baughan, Screen Daily
  • "A necessary warning klaxon for our culture’s increasing inability to accept death, just as it finds a techno-economic structure happy to oblige it."
    Jacob Oller, Paste Magazine
  • "A broader, more analytical look at the burgeoning market for “afterlife technology”."
    Alissa Wilkinson, The New York Times
  • "Urgent and timely."
    Carmen Gray, The Film Verdict
  • "Eternal You has a fascinating story to explore, but what makes it even more impressive is the complex way in which it approaches this challenging material."
    Sean Boelman, Disappointment Media
  • "A sprawling portrait of the emerging business that is digital afterlife technology."
    Marlow Stern, Rolling Stone
  • "Absorbing and, frequently, disturbing...."
    Amber Wilkinson, Eye for Film
  • "AI is a genie let out of the bottle, for better or worse. Eternal You gives us a taste of both, making for an experience that is equal parts enlightening, heartbreaking, and infuriating — much like real grief."
    Kristy Puchko, Mashable
  • "The film approaches a new tech frontier with an objective, responsibly apprehensive, eye."
    Derek Smith, Slant Magazine