THE STORY – Since their first encounter, Almut and Tobias have rarely had a dull moment. A meet-cute car accident, giving birth in the unlikeliest of locations, a world-class gastronomical competition… their time together seems fated to brim with striking events.
THE CAST – Andrew Garfield & Florence Pugh
THE TEAM – John Crowley (Director) & Nick Payne (Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 107 Minutes
Chef Almut (Florence Pugh) and Wheatabix data manager Tobias (Andrew Garfield) met under the worst of circumstances – she hit him with her car as he was walking back to his hotel after buying a pen to sign his divorce papers. From this disastrous beginning, they find a real connection and eventually have a child together under even worse circumstances. To make matters even more alarming, Almut has a recurrence of ovarian cancer that will require an aggressive course of treatment without a guarantee of remission. Throughout the course of their relationship, they fight, make up, and grow both as individuals and as a couple. John Crowley’s “We Live in Time” uses a nonlinear structure to follow Almut and Tobias through their relationship’s beginning, middle, and end. It doesn’t gain much from this structure. Still, thanks to Crowley’s sensitive direction and the incredible chemistry between Pugh and Garfield, the film finds a beautiful sweet spot between romantic fantasy and reality, feeling like it was taken directly from real life even though it’s entirely invented.
Where most romance films dig into the fantasy aspects of love, Nick Payne’s screenplay keeps things low-key and naturalistic, eschewing grand gestures in favor of the little moments that turn an average anecdote into a story you tell for years. The film has an unexpectedly humorous side that not only adds to the film’s tremendous charm but also makes the, at times, syrupy sentiment easier to take. It often feels like the film is taking the piss out of itself by throwing out some knowingly corny, meme-able lines of dialogue every few scenes as if acknowledging that films like this are inherently ridiculous. “We Live in Time” is not ridiculous, though, far from it. Almut and Tobias feel like real people with real personalities and real problems – take the scene where Tobias wants to talk about the possibility of having children even though he and Almut haven’t been dating for long. Other, lesser films would have made a thing about Tobias’s admission that he sees himself falling in love with Almut, but she’s far too spiky of a character to be distracted by that. Instead, she behaves like an adult and shuts him down, appalled that he would bring up the topic when they’ve only been on a few dates, let alone using the “biological clock” excuse for an explanation. Tobias later similarly behaves like an adult and apologizes instead of stewing or holding it against her.
Both Almut and Tobias can be obstinate, making their arguments challenging to watch. Still, Pugh and Garfield invest the characters with such personality and conviction that you can’t help but understand both sides and sympathize with the situation as a whole instead of with one character over the other. Pugh believably acts both the emotional and physical pain of her cancer diagnosis, finding Almut’s strength in her competitive fire (which pushes her to compete in the Bocuse d’Or, “the Olympics of cooking,” against the advice of her doctors and Tobias’s wishes). Garfield has less of a range of emotions to play, but Tobias’s open-hearted nature is perfectly aligned with the film’s overall tone, making him central to the film’s success. The emotion behind his eyes never wavers, providing a direct line of sight to Tobias’s soul. Both performers have considerable charm and charisma, but together, the electricity between them could power an entire country. In order to create a great romance, you need to be able to feel the connection between the leads, and the way Pugh and Garfield look at each other is enough to buy into their relationship. Given the nonlinear structure, it can be difficult, at times, to tell which part of the story we’re in, but the chemistry between the leads is the film’s anchor, always available to grab onto whenever anything else threatens to get in the way.
Thankfully, Crowley doesn’t let too much else get in the way of his stars. All films are inherently emotionally manipulative, and this is no exception, but Crowley goes about it as honestly as possible. There are no twists or big reveals here, just a story that plays out in a fragmented fashion. However, the film doesn’t seem to gain much from the nonlinear structure, as it jumps from one place to another without much care for thematic connectivity. This works insofar as watching similar scenes play out back to back would rob the film of momentum and make it feel repetitive. Although it’s odd that such an unabashedly sentimental film pulls its punches for the finale, pulling back for something quieter at the exact moment, it should be going in for the kill emotionally. The more low-key approach to the film overall leads to several big emotional moments that feel sweet or poignant but never deeply emotionally resonant, which is what you would expect from a film like this. That approach is admirable, but it makes the film’s climax feel a bit emotionally skimpy, even with the strong performances. Had the film’s tone matched that of Bryce Dessner’s stirringly sentimental score, it may have been too much, but it also definitely would have hit its emotional mark with surer aim. Instead, “We Live in Time” plays very much in the key of life but ultimately feels a bit like watching someone else’s home movies: You can see the emotion but won’t feel it as deeply as the people you’re watching.
