You’ll pay for that with your life, Literally! Paradise(2023)
The German dubbed Netflix Original “Paradise” puts a literal spin on paying for something with your life. In this, I give my thoughts and critiques.
In this 2026 dystopian society, “AEON” is a capitalistic scientific corporation that takes years of people’s lives in exchange for money. Paradise boasted a really interesting concept that unfortunately delivered poor execution.
But first, I’ll applaud this film’s straight-to-the-point storytelling. As far as the main storyline is concerned- it only took about 15 minutes for this movie to get going. And for about 75 percent of the movie was entertained thoroughly.
Our main character Max ( Numan Acar) is the golden boy of AEON. The “donation manager of the year” has amassed a total of 276 years from the poor. Max ends up reneging on his loyalty to the company when his wife is forced to put up 38 years of her life as collateral after an all-too-convenient housefire(hint-hint). Suddenly, Elena is arrested and forced to undergo the procedure almost immediately. Max isn’t even allowed to see her.
One important rule to remember about Paradise is that a donor must be “genetically compatible” with the subject for the procedure to work. AEON does not yet have the technological advancements to overcome this stipulation.
It just so happens that Elena is genetically compatible with AEON CEO Olivia Theissen (Iris Berben).
Max was originally assigned to be Elena’s donation manager for this reason, he fell in love with her instead.
In a dreary montage, viewers see Elena turn into a senior citizen, subsequently her relationship with Max crumbles.
Max, now hellbent on a solution, accidentally kidnaps Thiessen’s daughter Marie(Lisa-Marie Koroll) confusing her to be her de-aged mother, and a cat-and-mouse style chase ensues. This was a nearly perfect setup for a sci-fi thriller with a lot of potential.
But, parts of this movie simply fell through.
Don’t get me wrong, certain ideas within this movie really pulled their weight and added to the overall believability. Such as the idea of prison years being servable by time donations. Prison reform and harsh sentencing are hot-button issues of today, so this aspect of the film felt palpable.
However, this movie felt equally corny and unbelievable at times.
‘Ageism’- the sociocultural edgy phrase in this 2026 German society-immediately comes to mind in the corny department.
As for the unbelievable, Max almost effortlessly kidnaps the equivalent of this society’s Kendall Jenner. No security resistance or alerts being raised after a prolonged struggle between Max and Marie in her backyard just felt a bit far-fetched but I can ignore it.
Later were supposed to share vindication for AEON henchman, Kaya(Lorna Ishema). The most consistently cruel enforcer throughout the movie suddenly has a change of heart after a single conversation with her anarchist-spy coworker Judas(really subtle name choice). Did I mention that she is the one who kills Judas in the first place?
Show us, don't tell us
We got absolutely zero visual evidence of Kaya's past. So much potential lay in the backstory that she shared with Judas: She has been working for the Theissens for years and had become desensitized to all the brutal stipulations the job entails(such as burning down houses). Kaya should be a senior citizen but has been preserved with what we can assume is due to shady time donations. But with no scenes of a back story or any real evidence other than her telling us I felt like I didn't know Kaya, so why should we care?
The Adams Group
The anarchist social party opposed to AEON -‘The Adams Group’- was kind of cool. Even though they sort of contradicted their own moral principles by ordering the execution of an innocent teenager for not having the courage to topple a multi-billion dollar conglomerate. Their diluted leader Lillith(Lisa Loven Kongsli) served virtually no purpose, dying after about five minutes of screen time. Max ultimately ends up joining the Adams group which, all things considered- was the only reason for the group's inclusion in the first place.
Why does Max join?
In what might be the most unbelievable change of heart scene ever, Elena beats the crap out of Marie and scares Max out of going through with their plan to retain her youth. The scene just felt completely unbelievable considering that Max literally gas-lit his wife into doing all of this and was nearly just as cruel. Now, after everything: Smuggling, shootouts, extortion, starvation, and Lithuanian border control to name a few challenges the couple faced, Max wants to side with the girl who just tried to shoot his wife?
Elena understandably kicks Max out of the truck and goes through with the plan. A now rejuvenated Elena finds a new random surfer dude in Lithuania and Max creepily stares at her from afar before running off in the sunset to his new anarchist buddies.
The….end? The closing scene of Max riding with The Adams Group seemingly hinted that a sequel is possible. Will I be watching? Maybe.
In the end, Netflix Original Paradise started off strong with an innovative sci-fi premise but failed to spin it into a convincing or moving story. It's definitely not the worst sci-fi movie ever made, not by a long shot. As I said, introducing the he idea of time donations was a home run.
But three ill-justified character changes of heart- two of which were absolutely inconceivable — proved to be the downfall of this movie's impact.
