Starring Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh, “We Live In Time” tells a remarkable story about two people falling in love through anger, passion and joy. Released on Oct. 18, the film spans the adult lives of Tobias (Garfield) and Almut (Pugh) as they grapple with the intricacies of adult relationships. The story not only takes audience members on an emotional roller coaster but also sheds light on how love can prevail in a world full of stress and melancholy.
The pair start their relationship off on rather rocky footing, with Almut hitting Tobias with her car while he crosses a busy street. They have their first date at a local diner after leaving the hospital that same night and keep meeting after sparks fly. However, the two cannot be more different. Almut is a Michelin Star chef who loves her profession and Tobias works for Weetabix cereal, which he could not care less about.
Tobias and Almut quickly fall for each other and spend most of their time laughing and experiencing the joys of life together. Despite their growing affection, they could not be more contrasting in their lifestyles. These diverging beliefs create moments of tension between the two throughout the film.
“We Live In Time” utilizes flashbacks and flashforwards from the pair’s first interactions to much later when Almut is diagnosed with stage three ovarian cancer. These time jumps enhance the feeling of “living in time” by showing the beauty of life in each beautiful moment, even if their lives are also filled with disagreement and hardship. The audience saw the pair during the momentous birth of their daughter but also witnessed the early fighting about how Almut did not want kids while Tobias knew he wanted to become a father.
Rather than shying away from the difficulties that come with a loving relationship, the film embraced these situations and represented them as a cornerstone of love. Tobias and Almut love each other through both the hopeful and heartbreaking moments and embrace each other’s differences. The two could have gone their separate ways, but choose to love each other and experience life together. As the film comes to a close, this theme remains poignant.
The film provides a fresh perspective compared to other movies that incorporate love with the fight against a terminal illness. Films such as “Five Feet Apart” and “The Fault in Our Stars” focus on how the illness impacts the characters’ chances at love, but “We Live In Time” emphasizes the importance of a strong and loving support system during Almut’s fight against ovarian cancer.
The director John Crowley made the film with great care and explained in an interview that there were many moments in the film where “the central gravity somehow shifted underneath the scene,” and “deepen[ed] the whole level of reality.” Garfield expressed that “the way [the film] was written was so sensitive and so tender,” and “it’s a movie that celebrates it all,” according to Pugh. When audience members go to watch “We Live In Time,” they already know the dreaded outcome of the story, yet want to experience these moments on screen and cannot help but be drawn to the heartbreaking and realistic expression of love that the film provides.
“We Live In Time” was beautifully crafted and truly epitomizes everything about life and love through the non-linear storytelling of Tobias and Almut’s lives together. The film is currently in theaters and is one you will not want to miss.
