With much of the promotional material around We Live in Time focusing on Florence Pugh’s new haircut and its implications for the plot of the film, I went into the cinema with trepidation. I imagined that the film I was about to watch would make me inconsolable for the foreseeable future, and that the tragic afterimages from it would flash before my eyes as I tried to sleep for the next week.
Thankfully, this wasn’t the reality. Instead of experiencing a perpetual feeling of distress and having to hold back tears until my head hurt, I found We Live in Time to be a story full of warmth and love, as it places an emphasis on the ways life is worth living, rather than focusing on what we lack. Almut (Florence Pugh), and Tobias (Andrew Garfield) meet after she strikes him with her car — she stays with him in hospital, and offers a free meal at her restaurant for him and his wife. At the restaurant, Tobias discloses his divorce and thus ignites the series of events that spiral into one of the most realistic depictions of an adult relationship onscreen.
When Almut says that she didn’t see herself having children in the future — while Tobias envisioned them having a family together — the couple have their first significant argument. Neither person is completely in the right, which is what gives the film its charm. Tobias was insensitive, and Almut spoke to him unkindly. Yet still, Tobias apologises to her and stands his ground, telling her that she was in the wrong too. As time progresses after their reconciliation, their relationship only grows stronger, until Almut discovers for the first time that she has ovarian cancer and her options are to have a partial or full hysterectomy. This time, the couple communicate clearly and openly, and Tobias decides to respect whatever she decides.
Ultimately, she chooses a partial hysterectomy with hopes of having children with Tobias in the future, highlighting how she now shares his vision for a family. There’s significant character development throughout the film, which marks the start, middle, and end of their relationship in three parallel timelines. We watch the couple take pregnancy tests before we discover how they met, and we witness the return of her cancer before we find out how she beat it the first time. Their argument about children is particularly upsetting; even though we know that they have a child later, the tension and anger that fuels this scene still creates a sense of anticipation, leaving the audience to question which pieces of the puzzle we are missing. For some, this may be confusing and hard to keep up with, especially if it feels difficult to identify the three timelines at the start. Indeed, some promotional material (the horse on the merry-go-round, for example) blew across the internet to such an extent that one may have expected more of these scenes in the final film. I personally enjoy watching filmmakers experiment with their audience’s emotions in this way; we know from the beginning of the film that Almut is facing a limited time to live, and instead of solely focusing on her deterioration and breaking the news to their child, the audience is propelled through life. Cooking is her passion, and her skill is made clear from the opening scenes of the film, where she makes breakfast for Tobias and later shows him the best way to crack an egg. We are drip fed details that build on each other, such as the significance of Almut’s past as a figure skater. We watch her compete in a prestigious cooking competition behind Tobias’ back because, whilst she may be ill, she doesn’t want to stop doing what she loves; we watch her life with Tobias and their daughter, and we watch the couple make the most of the time that they have.
Additionally, We Live in Time is refreshing because its characters have flaws. When Tobias finds out that Almut has been participating in the competition rather than focusing on her treatment — after she fails to pick up their daughter, Ella, from school — another argument ensues, where she reveals that she would rather have their daughter remember her as an accomplished chef than just her mother. What’s more, is that Tobias discovers the final of the competition is on the same date that they planned their wedding. After an emotionally charged proposal, and a devastating moment where Tobias puts the stacks upon stacks of wedding invitations in the outside bin, the audience feels the conflict of wishing both events could happen; that we could bear witness to another moment of happiness in Almut’s work life, as well as to the couples’ marriage. Ultimately, Tobias once again demonstrates his promise to act in Almut’s best interests, choosing to support her final endeavour as a professional chef to honour her wish of being remembered for her achievements.
This is a sentiment that further deepens our insight into the characters that We Live in Time so effectively brings to life. Even in a scene that is supposed to have an edge of comedy — where Almut gives birth to their daughter in a petrol station — the characters we are introduced to for only a moment are realistic and distinctive. The surprise of Kerry Godliman appearing on screen was at once welcome and hilarious. A scene infused with chaos is performed with rushed dialogue, a team effort to break into the bathroom, and is finalised with an emotional beat where their daughter is born healthy, and four strangers have bonded in the most unlikely way. This was perhaps one of my favourite scenes in the entire film, as it highlighted the emphasis on community between strangers, friends and family that each person, real or fictional, relies on. Community and connection is demonstrated where Almut eventually learns to rely on Jade, her commis in the cooking competition, when the treatment leads her hands to shake too much to effectively plate their dishes. Tobias and his father, Ella and her parents and Almut and Simon are just a few more relationships that are not only depicted but developed well throughout the film.
Tobias and Ella then go to Italy to support Almut during the finals of the competition, and Jade shaves their head in solidarity. It seems to be implied that they won, and upon finishing, Almut goes to her family and leaves with them immediately. They go to the ice rink that a few scenes before had caught Almut’s eye while she was on a run prior to the final, and the three of them skate together in homage to Almut’s past as a figure skater. She then symbolically skates away from Tobias and Ella, waving to the two holding hands from the other side of the rink — everybody in the cinema understood that this was the turning point into the end of the film, and I do think that the waterworks were turned on for all by this point. Going forward, we skip the grieving, and the funeral, and are instead plunged into Tobias and Ella’s life some time later. The film again demonstrates that it is not focused on what we’ve lost, but what we have: for Almut, this was the time she had left to live with purpose, and now for Tobias and Ella, it’s her memory. It’s how to crack an egg, as a dog runs around just as Tobias and Almut discussed, as a way for Ella to cope with the loss of her mother.
I will say, at times it felt as if I was playing a game of ‘spot the sponsorship’. Whether it was Weetabix, Celebrations or Terry’s Chocolate Orange, brand names were certainly put somewhere onscreen that we couldn’t miss. However, it could be argued that this is just a reflection of real life, where people frequently encounter these household names, thus aiding our immersion.
We Live in Time is a film about life, love and relationships. Its biggest merit is its refusal to be bleak, melancholic or nihilistic. Its message is imbued with optimism, and though grief is a difficult subject, it doesn’t linger on it. Rather, it is carried through the film as a constant undertone, reflecting the way that grief continues to live inside you even though life goes on. It is not a film about illness and death; it is a film about living, and that is its strength.
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