Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield find gold in the uneven grounds of We Live in Time, a romantic drama that bows down to the tearjerker formula.
Moving back and forth through the timeline of a relationship, the movie offers an original way to tell the story, which feels irregular at the start but quickly falls into place. The toughest moments of the story sit next to the happiest memories, ends and beginnings meeting each other along the way.
Directed by Irish filmmaker John Crowley (Brooklyn), the movie follows professional chef Almut (Pugh) and marketing executive Tobias (Garfield) as they build a life together.
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Through the highlights of a decade together, from their unconventional meet-cute (she runs him over with her car) to becoming a family and facing illness, We Live in Time reflects on what it means to run out of time and desperately hold on to every moment of joy.
The movie's non-linear narrative allows for this story to smartly combine the ups and downs, rather than subject viewers to full episodes of uncontrollable grief. Those are present too, of course, and they are heartbreaking, but the structure of the story somehow puts every moment (good or bad) into the wider perspective of a lifetime.
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It might also have a different effect – it's a broken cycle of life.
In the opening scene of the movie, Almut collects a few ingredients around their rural house in order to make an omelette. There is a peacefulness and perfection to her ministrations, to how she takes what she needs from nature (the herbs from the road, the eggs from the chicken in their backyard) in order to create something new.
Compared to those perfectly balanced first moments, the human life the movie delves into afterwards feels incredibly messy. As it usually is.
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Despite its unusual timeline, the movie would feel like any other middle-of-the-road soppy romantic drama if not for the two leading stars.
As the passionate Almut and the soft-spoken Tobias, Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield are the heart of the story, with their excellent performances filling in the emotional gaps the script might have presented.
Pugh's spontaneous persona and Garfield's sweetness seep into their characters, and their chemistry is instantaneous from the first moment we see them together. They laugh, they cry, they argue, they have sex, and they manage to break viewers' hearts in the process.
Tearjerkers push emotional buttons to obtain a visceral reaction, but it takes two phenomenal actors to really bring out transcendent feelings – as well as to push through the complexities of an incredibly transfixing birth scene.
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Where We Live in Time stumbles is in the development of its characters, as not even Pugh and Garfield can fully sell some of their strange decision-making logic and outlandish situations.
Something gets lost in the non-linear timeline too, as if a collection of one's life moments is not actually enough to portray a relatable set of characters, or it's just not well enough executed in Crowley's hands.
Despite its irregularities, however, We Live in Time is an affecting romantic drama that will resonate with the audience.
After all, the movie is about the devastating knowledge that time can slip through our fingers quicker than we can blink, and it will never feel enough. Nobody said this was going to be a happy one!
We Live in Time is released in US cinemas on October 11 and in UK cinemas on January 1, 2025.
Mireia (she/her) has been working as a movie and TV journalist for over eight years. Based in the UK, she is a former deputy movies editor at Digital Spy, and previously worked for the Spanish magazine Fotogramas. Mireia's work has been published in other outlets such as Esquire and Elle in Spain, and WeLoveCinema and GamesRadar+ in the UK. She is also a published author, having written the essay Biblioteca Studio Ghibli: Nicky, la aprendiz de bruja about Hayao Miyazaki's Kiki's Delivery Service.
During her years as a freelance journalist and film critic, Mireia has covered festivals around the world and has interviewed high-profile talents such as Kristen Stewart, Ryan Gosling, Jake Gyllenhaal and many more. She's also taken part in juries such as the FIPRESCI jury at Venice Film Festival and the short film jury at Kingston International Film Festival in London. LinkedIn
