Eden is the type of film studio executives normally dismiss. Consider: There are no A list stars, steamy bedroom scenes or in-your-face explosions. Instead, what Eden has is a tender, thought-provoking story and strong, yet subtle, performances from its low wattage cast.

The movie opens in 1965 and centers on childhood sweethearts Helen (Joanna Going) arid Bill (Dylan Walsh), a married couple struggling to keep their relationship from faltering. Helen is battling multiple sclerosis and Bill, a college professor, is having a tough time living with a partial cripple and no longer finds his wife sexually attractive. The tension builds as Helen finds herself screaming at her two children for no reason and resenting her husband's attempt to stifle her aspirations to feel like a whole person. To feel more fulfilled, Helen decides to tutor Dave (Sean Patrick Flanery), one of Bill's less motivated students.

Dave falls in love with Helen, who eventually falls into a coma, and he continues to despise Bill for the way he treats his wife. "To me she's one of the most beautiful women in the world," Dave tells Bill. "To you, she's just a cripple."

To escape the prison of her disease, a frustrated and angry Helen has several out-of-body experiences. "The uncertainty of not knowing what's going to happen next can make you want to escape," Helen's doctor tells her. At one point, her soul hovers over her near-death body, deciding if it should come back. But what does she have to come back to? A husband who pities her? A dead marriage? The question: Will Helen join her family, though it would mean living with a dreaded disease, or will she opt for the freedom she craves in the afterlife? Although Eden features a love triangle, it's really about a woman's spiritual odyssey to find peace and happiness.

Going is excellent and manages to give Helen a quiet passion that's contagious. Dylan is effectively brooding as the husband who learns how to love again and Flanery is steady as the lovesick student. Howard Goldberg's touching screenplay isn't sappy and makes you think twice about life, death and the soul.

reviewed at THE PALM BEACH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

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