*Spoilers Ahead*
Premiering on Max on Feb. 7, director John Crowley’s A24 romantic drama “We Live in Time” was a captivating and tragically romantic display of the evolving human experience.
Popular actors Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield star in this movie as Almut and Tobias, respectively. The movie begins with two Londoners destined to meet in the middle of tragedy as Almut runs over Tobias in her car while he is facing the end of a divorce.
After Tobias recovers, the two get to know each other and he finds that Almut is a chef about to open a new restaurant nearby, so Almut invites him to visit the restaurant for free to make up, ultimately expanding the relationship between them.
Typical conflicts arise between the couple throughout the movie, yet the biggest shock to them is the diagnosis of Almut’s stage three ovarian cancer. Although Almut seemingly beats it once, the cancer eventually comes back, creating tension in opinions over treatment between the two.
Almut wants to decide the best way to live her life to the fullest with the rest of the time she has left out of fear of not being remembered by others in the future. Although the plot is nothing groundbreaking, the casting and the chemistry between Pugh and Garfield helped transform the otherwise slightly cheesy and predictable script into a beautiful, heart-warming peek into true romance.
For a film with an otherwise basic plot as a cancer drama, Crowley innovates and steps away from the traditional sequencing of movie storylines to emphasize the ups and downs of life, love and relationships. Instead of sequencing scenes to flow as they would in a typical timeline, Crowley decides to flip through three different eras of the couple’s lives together as friends, partners and parents.
In an interview with Picturehouse, Crowley explained that as he was reading Nick Payne’s script given to him for the first time, he was initially hesitant to direct the movie as he found the content very heavy. However, as he reached the end, he was in a mixed state of joy and depression. He knew that he wanted to visually capture that feeling throughout the movie, which led to his decision to alter the story’s timeline in such an unusual way.
Admittedly, there were quite a few moments of whiplash and confusion due to the sequencing. However, the juxtaposition between the emotional depth and sorrow of one scene, next to a bright and playful interaction between the couple in the following scene, helped the movie feel more engaging and made the story more emotionally digestible.
Crowley did an incredible job making the audience feel connected to the couple, as I experienced a wide range of emotions while watching, including some tears that were shed.
Although I am in no way an expert on romance movies or romantic dramas (and I definitely do not recommend watching this movie on Valentine’s Day as I did), I, without a doubt, recommend that everyone watch this movie to remind themselves of the beauty of human interaction and the fragility of life. The constant reminder of the limited time we have together should inspire everyone to consider how they spend their time and live their lives to the fullest.
Rating: 7.5/10
