Briefly inhabited from time to time, Floreana was uninhabited when a German couple escaping the rise of the Nazis move there. They are Friedrich Ritter (Jude Law), a misanthrope writing an impassioned yet unreadable philosophy tirade, and Dore Strauch (Vanessa Kirby), a thirty-something suffering from multiple sclerosis. Their little farm is marginally subsistent.
A new family arrives, the Wittmers. They are the husband and wife team of Heinz (Daniel Brühl) and Margret (Sydney Sweeney), and Harry (Jonathan Tittel), their supposedly sickly son of about 12. They were inspired to come by Ritter's articles, but are quickly disillusioned by his antisocial behavior. Nonetheless, Heinz and Margret toil ceaselessly to establish their foothold in the wilderness.
The real troubles begin with the arrival of the "Baroness" (Ana de Armas), a flirtatious, arrogant, and quarrelsome beauty with two devoted young male followers, Robert (Toby Wallace) and Rudolph (Felix Kammerer).
Their hedonistic and selfish activities eventually provoke Ritter and Heinz to confront them with rifles, ending in the deaths of Robert and the "Baroness." By this time, Rudolph has switched sides against her.
Ritter's unpleasant behavior eventually inspires Dore to poison him, and he dies in agony. Rudolph bribes a fisherman to take him from the island, and both die. Dore returns to Germany, leaving only the Wittmers on Floreana, where later generations of the family continue to reside to this day.
How others will see it. Despite a lurid story stocked with murders, schemes, and beautiful women, Eden was a flop at the box office. It grossed only a tiny fraction of its generous budget. It was mostly ignored on the festival circuit, scraping out only a single nomination at the Saturn Awards.
Nevertheless, few believe it is a bad movie. At imdb.com, it has an okay to good user rating of 6.5 out of 10. The 41K user vote total shows that although no one saw it at the theaters, people are streaming it on Netflix. The user reviews pick up on the film's moral, that people will become violent when they feel they need to.
How I felt about it. Ron Howard has directed dozens of films, including many commercial and critical successes. Biggest among these was A Beautiful Mind (2002), which at imdb.com has an incredible 1M user votes and an extremely high user rating of 8.2 out of 10. That film won Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director. I didn't particularly like it.
In fact, among those films of his that I have seen, the only I was impressed with was Apollo 13 (1995). Until now, that is, because Eden is engrossing. The "Baroness" is over the top, as is Ritter, and it is fitting than one ends up shooting the other. Because no island is big enough for two such egos.
The truth is we don't know what happened to the "Baroness" and Robert. Maybe they died violently at the hands of other colonists, as depicted in the film, or perhaps they simply left the island and possibly died in the attempt. The story in the film is difficult to believe; Robert as a kamikaze warrior defending the "Baroness", followed by Ritter murdering the "Baroness" in cold blood. What matters, at least to the studio, is that audiences accept it.
Ana de Armas undoubtedly enjoyed playing her insufferable character. Jude Law was likely also pleased with his character. Perhaps most interesting is the usually flamboyant Sydney Sweeney underplaying Margret while Law and de Armas are camping it up. One has to respect her as an actress. She was valedictorian of her high school despite her myriad activities.