We Live in Time (2024) Review: Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh Shine in This Otherwise Cliché-Ridden Romantic Drama
John Crowley’s follow-up to 2019’s The Goldfinch looks like a must-see romantic drama you can’t afford to miss as We Live in Time boasts a star-studded pair of Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh playing a couple. Plus, it’s nice to see them speaking in their native English accents for a change rather than adopting the American slang.
The movie also tells the story in a rather unconventional way — a non-linear narrative that re-arranged the timeline of Tobias (Garfield) and Almut (Pugh)’s relationship from the day they met to falling in love, married and having a baby. Think of it like a series of snapshot collections and the fact that love and life in general can be unpredictable justifies Crowley’s unique approach in the first place. The scenes jump back and forth with no indicator of timestamp or title card, which obviously wants you to pay attention to what’s going on with their relationship. It’s easy to get lost, especially for those with short attention spans but frankly, there’s nothing complicated or convoluted about the overall story.
Written by Nick Payne, whose credits include TV’s The Crown and Wanderlust and feature films such as The Last Letter from Your Lover, the story details the couple’s ups and downs, where the latter is especially true with Almut finding out about her ovarian cancer. We learn that she used to be a figure skater before switching her career to becoming a chef working at a high-end restaurant. The first time she met Tobias, who works for a cereal company Weetabix, happened by accident. An unlikely accident, to be exact because Tobias is in his hotel bathrobe on his way back after purchasing a pen and gets struck by Almut’s car. The whole meet-cute scenario is kind of funny, even though I can’t help thinking why the comedy has to be written in such a way. This is evident with Tobias’ absurd decision of rather walking out of the hotel just to get a pen without considering changing his bathrobe to proper clothes. The reason? He needs it badly to sign his divorce papers after the pencil unexpectedly breaks and before that, his pen somehow runs out of ink.
I prefer the other comedic moment better — a memorable childbirth scene takes place in a petrol station bathroom. Tobias is supposed to drive Almut to the hospital but unfortunately encounters heavy traffic. It was easily the best scene in the movie as the two petrol station employees played by Nikhil Parmar and Kerry Godliman as Sanjaya and Jane help out with Almut’s childbirth as well.
As for the cast, Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh are looking good as a couple in love with distinct personalities. Garfield’s Tobias is more of a meek and accommodating husband. He always has that soulful look on his face and expressive eyes, and Garfield makes good use of them to his advantage. Pugh’s Almut, in the meantime, is an aggressive type prone to her erratic behaviour. She is also highly competitive, given her past that she’s willing to pour her heart and soul focusing on the job she loves the most even in her cancerous state.
Their chemistry is another reason that keeps me invested even when the story is filled with the same old romance-genre clichés, complete with a disease-of-the-week melodrama straight out of Hallmark channel. The sappy tone is all over the place, making me wonder if it wasn’t for Garfield and Pugh and the interesting non-linear angle, We Live in Time would have been a letdown. But despite the overly familiar story about relationships. it’s hard to deny Crowley’s assured direction in making us laugh, cry and be happy for Tobias and Almut throughout their journey together.
