We Live in Time
I’ve been called many things during my 33 years on this planet and most of those things are variants of “cold hearted bitch”. Part of me gets off on the idea that I’ve successfully fooled people into thinking I have a modicum of mystique about me, especially since the shameful truth is that I can’t watch a single Pixar movie nor listen to Hans Zimmer’s ‘Planet Earth II Suite’ without bursting into tears.
The reason I’m bringing up my carefully constructed frosty exterior is because I want you to know that it is not the reason I low-key kinda despise John Crowley’s We Live in Time. I kinda despise it because it’s a manipulative hack job of a film that is designed to make regular movie goers cry empty tears but not to think or feel anything after they’ve posted the obligatory “this is me before/after We Live in Time” TikTok and finished their $10 small popcorn.
The faux profoundly titled We Live in Time is about a chef named Almut (Florence Pugh) and a Weetabix rep named Tobias (Andrew Garfield) who meet by chance when the former hits the latter with her Mini Hatchback. The newly divorced Tobias is hesitant to start a relationship but a one-night stand turned breakfast to dinner date changes his mind.
We watch the couple navigate differences in life goals (Tobias wants kids, Almut doesn’t but then conveniently changes her mind) and the cutesy tribulations of parenting. But their biggest obstacle is Almut’s ovarian cancer diagnosis, its persistence through time and the curveballs it throws towards her desire to leave a legacy that accounts to more than just having a child.
For no reason other than to distract from its true nothingness the film is told in nonlinear fashion, dipping in and out of moments in the couple’s life together and creating an impenetrable barrier to anything more interesting that might’ve lurked beneath. You could watch Richard Curtis’ sentimental but charming About Time (that at least features a time travel element to justify the structure and title) or even revisit Sliding Doors to get a mouthful of what this film only pretends to offer in a stingy bite. Alternatively, if a proper cry is what you’re after, you could spend 108 minutes scrolling through the news of the world.
Part of my connection problem with this film is the central relationship. Despite the undeniably endearing nature of both Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield, the lack of chemistry between Almut and Tobias makes it really difficult for me to believe their narrative.
The loss of context via the time back and forths surely contributes to this but there is a discernible lack of heat from the get go, leading to a discernible lack of tenderness further along in their story. It feels regressive as a woman to say that Florence Pugh’s character in Midsommar has more chemistry with the fairly maligned Christian but I’ve said it now and I stand by it.
We Live In Time is an odd beast because on the surface, it’s a technically fine film. It is written by acclaimed British playwright Nick Payne, directed by someone with a long history in theatre, stars two undeniably talented actors and was picked up by A24 for distribution in the US. People all over social media are posting themselves weeping in post-credits sadness orgies and having now seen the film and experienced almost none of its purported side effects, I’m feeling a little gaslit.
I also feel the need to say something positive, lest this review descend into a full blown rant. There is but one scene that elicits any kind of genuine emotion and it’s one that doesn’t quite fit the tone of the rest of the film. It involves a traffic jam, a servo and Kerry Godliman as an impromptu midwife, and it serves as a glimpse at the funny, slightly surreal drama that could have been.
This is one of those films that is exactly what it says on the box (or in the trailer), so if you’ve seen that you can pretty much log it in your Letterboxd watched. If, for some reason, you still decide to brave a cinema full of wannabe influencers all determined to outcry each other, lower your expectations and be sure to ask yourself: are these salty droplets on my cheek real, or manufactured?
Verdict
☆☆
We Live in Time is in cinemas Jan 16th.
