“We Live In Time” (2024) purports to be about a couple, Tobias (Andrew Garfield) and Almut (Florence Pugh), and charts their highs and lows for over the course of a decade. Director John Crowley (“Intermission,” “Brooklyn,” “The Goldfinch”) and writer Nick Payne (“The Sense of an Ending”) create some pretty people patriarchal propaganda with Tobias as the perfect fantasy of a man to convince career women like Almut that prioritizing family over ambition is a life-or-death issue.
Through nature and nurture, Garfield as Tobias is the ideal man. His dad, Reginald (Douglas Hodge), is the perfect gentleman. Hodge would win the Nicole Kidman award for emanating beams of love at Garfield and looks for any reason to touch him such is the abundance of his feeling for his son. There are not enough media images of fathers showing physical affection to their adult sons and their sons receiving it so kudos to the film for being countercultural. During a work trip, Tobias literally falls head over heels for Almut after his last relationship came to an abrupt halt because of his former wife’s skyrocketing career. Boooooo. They were just about to think about having children too! So early in “We Live In Time,” the real villain is the one thing that comes between a couple: work!. The film’s narrative trajectory is for Tobias to finally get the relationship he deserves: a wife committed to their relationship over her individual goals thus a child. At least movies like “Titane” (2021) and “Driving Madeleine” (2022) are more effective at disguising how women exist to benefit men by creating interesting women characters.
It takes the entirety of their relationship for Almut to learn this lesson that her professional calling needs to take a backseat, but because “We Live In Time” is not told in chronological order, the audience is already wiser than her and knows that it will work out. Almut is a talented rising star chef on the verge of national celebrity, but she is also the nicest chef ever unlike most media images of professional kitchens. No screaming or hysterics except to chide herself! The film’s image of a chef is mostly romantic. Even when she is ill, she goes for a daily jog, gets the freshest ingredients then lovingly cooks for her family. The imagery screams trad wife, but the story reassures moviegoers that she is a working woman. As such, she is reassuring, egalitarian and soft-spoken. She is also competitive and ambitious. She does not want kids or marriage, but because Tobias is the perfect man, she comes across as harsh for shooting down his serious talks about the future within weeks of their relationship. Her career rises to the level of committing adultery close to the denouement.
Cue cancer as a catalyst and a reasonable reason to cut the brakes and just embrace life. If “We Live In Time” was not so eager to push the diametric choice between career and family, a regressive concept revamped to erase all the negative aspects of even the best relationships, then it would not have missed a solid opportunity to tell a story about life as a ticking clock and trying to figure out how to juggle everything and make the best of the finite time that we have—a universal and gender neutral dilemma which all mortals face. The answer is not all family or all work, but a balance. While this review may seem like a joyless liberal talking point, ask yourself what Tobias sacrificed for their love versus Almut. The answer is nothing because his entire life revolves around the family as the primary caretaker while working for a major company. How? Shrug. Doesn’t matter. Is their daughter ever annoying, messy or crying? Nope. When Almut receives a cancer diagnosis, the film shies away from all sadness though not vomiting. There are numerous shots of puke because of morning sickness, nerves or chemo aftereffects. Let’s not forget that studies have proven that most men leave their partners after a cancer diagnosis. By avoiding uncomfortable emotions instead of pulling a Barbara Walters to try and make the audience cry, the film may become forgettable since there are no strong emotions to hold on to. Garfield can make his eyes well up with tears at the drop of a hat, but it is not enough for the audience to do the same. There was more contagious, empathetic crying on cue in “Will & Harper” (2024). With the time jumps, when the end comes, some viewers may miss it.
The narrative structure works because it functions like a puzzle and keeps the audience engaged in an otherwise fairly formulaic story. “We Live In Time” also succeeds at depicting sexiness with lots of tasteful nudity so consider yourself warned. Pugh’s breasts ruined many people’s viewing pleasure during “Oppenheimer” (2023), and they are often on display here so much so that averting your eyes will not be possible. Rumors of Garfield and Pugh simulating sex so loudly that they did not realize that filming stopped are probably exaggerated. After one sex scene, an audience member exclaimed, “That’s it.” Selling this film as the next best thing to soft core porn is attracting the wrong audience. It is thankfully not as anemic in consummating attraction as “Twisters” (2024), but for those expecting moaning and thrusting, keep it moving. Nothing to see here, but there is a plug for safe sex, which most media omit. This film proves that condom discussions do not kill the mood.
The chemistry between the two is off the charts, and Garfield has never looked better. Is he aging backwards? Because of the nonlinear narrative, to signal the progress of the relationship, Pugh gets saddled with several hairstyles that are not as flattering as expected for a romance flick. The weight of realism rests on her. She is so gorgeous that she makes everything work. Hopefully Garfield and Pugh got paid well because if the movie succeeds, it is because of their impressive acting talent and natural attributes. Do not indulge in as much processed food snacks as they do. To reflect that they are normal people, “We Live In Time” is one long commercial for junk despite Almut’s culinary prowess.
“We Live In Time” does deliver some surprises. It is funny in an audible laughter way, not a stone-faced visage typing LOL into an electronic device. The best scene is when Almut and Tobias are trying to get to the hospital, but there is too much traffic. Special kudos go to Nikhil Parma and Kerry Godliman who play a couple of gas station convenience store workers who are the perfect acting partners in this scene. Long after Pugh and Garfield exit the scene, Crowley stays a beat to linger on the two, and it is a perfect moment even as it plays with familiar tropes about labor. The other supporting characters are barely individuated and seem to have no lives outside of the main characters. In her onscreen debut as Jade, Almut’s sous chef, Lee Braithwaite stands out with her wide-eyed and earnest approach to an otherwise forgettable character.
“We Live In Time” does not just deliver pretty people, but pretty places with no concern about cost. Restaurants fail daily even for the most successful restauranteurs, but Almut starts with a charming small restaurant before having a vast, upscale, professional kitchen with loads of stations. The real estate porn of gorgeous open concept apartments, country houses on rolling green hills or Italian city streets is the real selling point. It may be harder to find the perfect home as a suitable partner, but Almut and Tobias are rich in both.
“We Live In Time” is a gorgeous film that many may mistakenly think is deserving of a date night. Do not do it unless your rose-colored glasses are firmly planted otherwise you may leave with unrealistic expectations that could doom your relationship before it begins.
