We Live in Time is a 2024 romantic drama between Almut, a hardworking chef (Florence Pugh), and Tobias, a confused, recently divorced man (Andrew Garfield), directed by John Crowley. These characters experience unimaginable life challenges that affect their lives forever. The film shows the development between the two characters and how they overcome the many difficulties thrown at them. The film jumps through different times of their lives out of chronological order to express how quickly changes in life can happen and how they grew together through it all. Therefore, the film gained the title We Live in Time.
This film tackles the scary and uncomfortable realities of illnesses. Almut is diagnosed with cancer twice in the decade-long relationship she has with Tobias, which adds worry and sadness to the film. More importantly, Almut’s diagnosis expresses her overwhelming bravery and boldness. She longs to make her family proud and not let them see her slowly be forgotten. She works through the hardships of her illness for her husband and daughter and displays a great sense of bravery.
The film came to life through Pugh and Garfield’s performances, which showed their characters’ undeniable chemistry. Their chemistry brought an emotional aspect to the film that elevated its meaning. Their characters fight and disagree but still have so much love and respect for each other, which is evident through how they look at each other. Their bond created a strong connection between the many jumps in time. This made the characters’ emotional journey develop quickly and smoothly. At some points in the movie, the time jumps did create slight confusion within the storyline. It became unclear what Pugh or Garfield’s characters felt in the present when the film jumped them back to the past.
A groundbreaking performance from Florence Pugh communicates intense emotional vulnerability to her partner and acceptance of her condition. Pugh did not hesitate to open up about her character’s fears and realities about her illness. Pugh’s ability to shift her emotions from joyful to depressed to follow and match up with the timeline jumps was extremely impressive. Pugh portrays Almut with ambition and fight but also shows a soft side that struggles and is scared of her life’s outcome. This emotional vulnerability strongly connects Pugh’s character and the viewers.
Alongside Florence Pugh, Andrew Garfield’s remarkable performance illustrates his character’s emotions. Garfield conveys frustration for the amount of love he feels for Almut in a very real way. He provides a unique take on preparing yourself for a loss that has yet to happen. Garfield carefully conveys care and patience with his partner while feeling confused and angry at the situation and how their life unfolds. This performance made the audience much more connected to the characters and able to see how they communicate through their emotions.
The film was based in London and captured the emotional transitions by changing scenery. Almut and Tobias live in a farm home that captures the peace and uncertainty ahead of them. The production design was very well done. It well applied to the emotional aspect of the movie by creating an eerie darkness setting during a sad scene. Scenes that are vibrant and fast-moving are set in the middle of the city with lots of people and loud music. The music perfectly matches the scenes of despair as well as the happy scenes.
The filmmaking of “We Live in Time” felt very real. The camera movement followed the movement of the characters and made viewers feel like they were there as well. The film editing became hard to follow and understand at some points. When there were jumps in time it was hard to tell what year the movie was now in. Small aspects of the characters changed such as hair or outfits, but it took quite a bit of attention to detail to confirm what year it was.
The film impressively conveys the feeling of grieving someone who is still here. The film does this by creating a feeling of separation between Almut and her family. She begins to lie about things in her life and is fearful of being vulnerable. Almut begins to disconnect from her husband and daughter and accepts they must learn what life is like without her. This is a painful yet brave realization Almut must face, but the film also gives the unique experience of the viewers having to come to this realization as well.
We Live in Time was released on October 18, 2024, to positive and appreciative reviews. The film received a Rotten Tomatoes score of 79% and an IMDb rating of 7/10. Pugh and Garfield received the award for Best Screen Couple at the Women Film Critics Circle Awards, along with many other nominations.
