We Live in Time Keeps Viewers Hooked Until the Very Last Minute

Kelly Egan ‘28 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer

Over the past few decades, there have been several beautifully devastating romance movies made that make people cry from happiness and sadness at the same time. Notable mentions include The Notebook, A Walk to Remember, The Fault in Our Stars, Five Feet Apart, and La La Land. This month, a new release has been added to this notorious list of films one watches in bed with a bowl of ice cream and tissues. 

John Crowley’s We Live in Time stars  Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh. Both English actors have substantial experience in the film industry, but neither have starred in a romance film like this one. Critics and movie-goers wondered if the duo portraying lovers would work on the big screen. Needless to say, the actors put on a performance that will have every person in the movie theater engrossed until the very end. 

The film follows the love story of Almut (Pugh), a professional chef, and Tobias (Garfield), a recent divorceé. Though the movie is advertised as a romance, it is not told the way a stereotypical film in this category usually is. Living up to its title, the movie is intricately sequenced to show that every minute counts. 

SPOILER WARNING

Right off the bat, the movie starts unexpectedly. The first scene shows the couple already far into their relationship. The two sit in a doctor’s office as Almut is diagnosed with ovarian cancer and is told that she should start chemotherapy treatments. As the scene continues, it’s revealed that this is not Almut’s first cancer diagnosis, nor Tobias’s first time being with her for a diagnosis. Almut voices her fear of going through treatment again and how the couple should tell their daughter, Ella. This scene openly gives the viewer information that usually isn’t revealed until the end of a movie such as this. 

The second scene shows the couple’s first meeting. As Tobias is walking back from a convenience store to his hotel, he gets hit by a car. The scene cuts to him in a hospital waiting room, waking up from a nap badly injured with an arm cast and bandages. He wakes up to see Almut, who he has never met before. She reveals that she hit him with her car accidentally, revealing the director’s aim for a chance encounter between the two. She apologizes and takes him out to an old-fashioned diner, where the two have immediate chemistry. 

As the movie continues, so does the sequence of chronologically out-of-order events. Each scene in the film is from a different point in Almut and Tobias’s relationship, slowly revealing more and more information about the story and characters. Though some may criticize the telling of the story, the director made his vision fairly clear with the title of the movie. 

The “out of order” concept portrays life changing over time, comparing moments from the beginning and ultimate end of the couple’s relationship as well as their best and worst moments. Crowley uses Almut’s cancer diagnosis as a focal point to show how people don’t realize the importance of time until there’s a clear limit. The movie conveys the idea of how our society often forgets we live in time until it’s too late.