We Live in Time is a romantic drama starring Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh. If your ticket isn’t already sold, I don’t know what else to tell you. These are two absurdly good-looking A-listers at the top of their game, and the both of them seem ready-made for a romantic pairing.
This slam-dunk casting really is the single most crucial reason to see the movie. Their chemistry is scorching from start to finish. The both of them are so damned good together, all I needed was a hundred minutes of watching them together. I want to see them talk with each other and make each other laugh. I want to see them naked and fucking. I want to see them fight and argue with each other. I want to see them care for each other and raise a kid together.
The whole movie is about watching these two characters go through an entire relationship from start to finish — in non-sequential order — and the two lead actors sell every last second. Their performances are so compelling and the both of them are so impossibly beautiful together that it’s more than good enough to justify seeing the movie.
Even so, there’s a lot of other stuff that’s definitely worth talking about.
This is the story of Tobias and Almut, respectively played by Garfield and Pugh. He’s a corporate drone in the middle of a rather bitter divorce and suffering a comically pathetic run of bad luck. She’s a world-class chef who’s mere days away from opening up her own restaurant. And that’s when the both of them first meet. (There’s a car wreck involved. Like I said, Tobias is pitifully unlucky.)
About three years later — but still within the first ten minutes of runtime — Tobias and Almut are now homeowners raising a kid together (Ella, played by Grace Delaney). And Almut gets hit with a cancer diagnosis. So now she’s stuck with chemotherapy because the tumor is inoperable. Put it together with the title of the film and it’s clear there’s only one way this story’s going to end.
(Side note: I don’t recall if the film ever specified exactly how much time has passed, but Wikipedia says it’s roughly three years, so let’s go with that.)
As I briefly mentioned earlier, we are watching the full width and breadth of this brief relationship, from the meet-cute beginning all the way up until Almut finally dies. And we go through it all in non-sequential order. On the one hand, this takes a lot of dramatic tension away from the proceedings, as we know how so many of their rockier stretches will work out. On the other hand, this ain’t no escapist chick flick.
Even before they get to the terminal cancer, Tobias has to get over his post-divorce romantic hangups and Almut has to deal with the trauma from her deceased father. The both of them have to figure out when and whether they want to have kids, the whole process of conceiving turns out to be difficult, Almut goes through a really tough pregnancy, and I don’t even want to talk about the actual childbirth when it finally happens. Tobias and Almut go through some real shit together, and it helps to know that all these rocky episodes will end well. Especially because we know their luck will eventually run out.
The various flashbacks are pretty much an informative diversion from the central driving crisis, which does play out in sequential order. See, while Almut is literally on the drive back from getting her cancer diagnosis, she gets invited to represent the UK in the prestigious Bocuse d’Or. Which means that she would have to last through the most exhaustive and prestigious cooking championship in the world, while also going through chemotherapy. Oh, and Tobias wants to get married before Almut is too dead to say “I do.”
Basically put, Almut would rather burn out while Tobias would rather she fade away. Tobias wants her to stick with the chemotherapy, but Almut is afraid of what her quality of life would be like after the fact. She’d rather have six happy and productive months, rather than twelve months (or however many years) wasting away due to a treatment that might not even work. And there’s Ella to consider as well — she’s young enough that these few months could be the only memories she ever has of her mother, if any. Almut wants her daughter to see her and remember her as a champion, not a chemotherapy patient.
Of course, there’s the obvious counterpoint that beating cancer would also be a significant source of pride. More importantly, Almut is spending so much time away from home and training for the competition — even if Ella only sees her mother in a wheelchair with a needle in her arm, at least she’s seeing her mother at all. Oh, and let’s not forget that Almut has her daughter and her loving fiance and a whole mantle full of trophies and certificates that she’s compiled over a massively successful (albeit relatively brief) life. It’s tough to see why she can’t simply lay down and accept everything she has as good enough. It’s especially tough for Tobias to see, and he understandably takes the point rather personally.
As the title heavily implies, this is very much a movie about making the most of whatever time we have. It’s a tough question that will vary wildly on a case-by-case basis, especially since we never really know how much time we have. But in the end, the film seems to suggest that the best possible answer is for the both of them to support each other. There is sacrifice and acceptance and squabbling involved, but Tobias and Almut each settle into their best possible selves simply by being what the other one fell in love with.
At this point, I feel compelled to reiterate that this isn’t all heavy character drama. I want to repeat emphatically that Garfield and Pugh are adorable together, and their innate charm — individually and together — is a massive draw. Of course, it certainly helps that we’ve got Lee Braithwaite on hand in the role of Almut’s loyal assistant, a valuable comic relief and sounding board for our female lead. On the other side, Tobias gets similar comic relief assistance from his father, played by Douglas Hodge.
We Live in Time is a charm offensive. The movie isn’t here to say anything new or provocative or mind-blowing. It’s not here to reinvent the romantic drama, it’s here to be a damned effective romantic drama. The casting, the script, the direction, the editing, the sex scenes, the comedy… everything about this movie was built with the sole focus of developing two powerhouse romantic leads. This movie was specifically and expertly built to be a tearjerker, damned good at making us fall in love with these characters so we can mourn for them at the end. And at only 100 minutes, the film hardly overstays its welcome.
If you want a date night recommendation, absolutely go see this in theaters. Otherwise, it’s a rock-solid home video recommendation. For most filmgoers, this would be far more powerful with a more intimate home viewing. Either way, it’s definitely worth a look.