The Eternal Memory / La memoria infinita, the fifth feature film by Academy Award nominated director Maite Alberdi, had an impressive performance in its opening weekend in Chile, having been seen by over 50,000 people, which marks the best opening ever for a national documentary in the local box office. The film also had the best opening weekend for a Chilean production since 2018, and displaced blockbusters Barbie and Oppenheimer from their previous top positions.
Winner of the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary at the Sundance Film Festival, and produced by Alberdi, Juan de Dios Larraín, Pablo Larraín, and Rocío Jadue, The Eternal Memory tells a profound and moving love story that balances vibrant individual and collective remembrance with the longevity of an unbreakable human bond.
The documentary follows Augusto and Paulina, who have been together and in love for 25 years. Eight years ago, their lives were forever changed by Augusto’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis. As one of Chile’s most prominent cultural commentators and television presenters, Augusto is no stranger to building an archive of memory.
Now he turns that work to his own life, trying to hold on to his identity with the help of his beloved Paulina, whose own pre-eminence as a famous actress and Chilean Minister of Culture predates her ceaselessly inventive manner of engaging with her husband. Day by day, the couple face this challenge head-on, relying on the tender affection and sense of humor shared between them that remains, remarkably, fully intact.
The Eternal Memory opened in US theaters on August 11, and is currently playing in numerous cities after receiving very strong reviews from numerous media outlets.
