Ari Aster’s Eddington paints a wild, satirical portrait of the United States unraveling under the weight of a pandemic and political division. Joaquin Phoenix leads a star-studded cast in this darkly comic neo-western where reason, reality, and morality collide.
Joaquin Phoenix struggles to bring order to a crumbling America in Eddington, a star-powered neo-western that acts as a scathing reflection of today’s United States.
Premiering Wednesday in France and Friday in the U.S., the film is the latest from indie favorite Ari Aster—known for genre hits like Hereditary and Midsommar. After Beau Is Afraid, Aster reunites with Phoenix, casting him as the sheriff of Eddington, a small New Mexico town boiling over during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Phoenix’s character, a deeply conservative lawman opposed to mask mandates in the name of “freedom and common sense,” is challenged by Pedro Pascal’s progressive mayor—a man pushing for public health compliance and the arrival of a new data center to jumpstart the town’s economy.
Ahead of filming, Aster—who grew up in New Mexico—took Phoenix on a research road trip across the state. “We met a few sheriffs,” Phoenix recalled in Cannes, where the film left empty-handed. One, in particular, struck a chord: “He was politically conservative but had a strong moral code. A decent guy, someone you’d feel safe around.”
But in Eddington, when the sheriff decides to run for mayor himself, all-out war erupts.
Reality Fractures
Conspiracy theories, violence, misinformation, isolation, and racial tensions—especially after the murder of George Floyd—serve as the film’s emotional and political backdrop. “That was when the fever peaked,” Aster told AFP during a press roundtable. “That’s when I started writing.”
“This movie is about what happens when people can’t even agree on what’s real anymore,” he explained. “That’s something affecting all of us now, but especially in the U.S., where I live. Covid broke the last link to the old system. It was the beginning of something massive.”
Though Aster began writing before Donald Trump’s political resurgence, he had hoped the film would hit theaters during the 2024 election season. Strikes that rocked Hollywood in 2023 derailed that plan.
Clocking in at 2 hours and 27 minutes, Eddington is a brutal, satirical, and visually charged dissection of a society at war with itself. In this updated western, cell phones and social media replace six-shooters—but the violence is as visceral as ever.
True to Aster’s signature style, no one comes out unscathed—not conspiracy theorists, white supremacists, nor progressive activists and Black Lives Matter supporters, who are also subject to biting satire.
Joining Phoenix and Pascal in this surreal moral battleground is an all-star cast. Emma Stone plays the sheriff’s wife, a sexual assault survivor now under the spell of a charismatic conspiracy cult leader, portrayed by Austin Butler (Elvis).
By François BECKER / AFP
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