‘We Live in Time’ Is a Heartache Worth Having
By Alivia Stonier
We Live in Time (2024), an A24 theatrical release, masterfully explores love and memory through the lens of time. Directed by John Crowley, the film stars Andrew Garfield as Tobias and Florence Pugh as Almut. The narrative expertly takes the viewer through time as we follow the relationship of the pair, including the beginning of their story, which may be considered the most unconventional meet-cute: Almut hitting Tobias with her car. Moments of joy, vulnerability, and conflict are woven together to reveal not only how love evolves but also how people stay true to their identities within a partnership.
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The film follows the couple as they meet and grow together in the loving relationship they’ve formed. When unexpected news about Almut’s health arises, the two are forced to grapple with what love looks like under a time constraint. Beyond that, the film emphasizes the importance of individuality and what helps shape us into the person we are proud to be. Through its focus on time, the audience is reminded of the value of living for the people and passions that keep us alive.
Crowley made an incredible directorial choice to trust the intelligence of the audience. The film doesn’t follow these two characters' lives in a linear way. Instead, viewers are shown some of the most important snapshots of their relationship.
As witty as it is tender, the film offers moments that feel like basking in sunlight through spoonfuls of parfait and Weetabix jokes. Through this everyday intimacy, Tobias is pulled out of his predictable, gray world by Almut’s vibrant spontaneity, challenging him to embrace life’s messiness. She is a passionate chef who owns her own restaurant, while he works at a major corporate cereal company, a place where it’s easy to feel like a cog in the corporate machine.
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Tobias also brings to Almut’s life an aspect she never felt ready for, he is someone who wants children, while she has decidedly never saw herself having then. This tension is highlighted in a heated argument when he admits he’s falling for her and explains that his previous marriage fell apart for this very reason. It’s a moment of pure vulnerability, realistic for people entering relationships later in life. Their differences create friction but also foster deep mutual respect.
The healthy communication featured following their argument remains at the forefront of their love story when Almut discovers that her ovarian cancer has relapsed. Earlier in their relationship, she had chosen to preserve one of her ovaries, knowing the risks, so that she could have children with Tobias. It's a health decision that can be fatal but shows her dedication to the life that she wants to live with him, and the future that they want the chance to have together.
The depth of their care for each other is truly highlighted when Almut contemplates not pursuing treatment so they can enjoy the last few months of her life to the fullest with their daughter. Instead of an argument or protest, Tobias responds with quiet support, simply listening and honoring her thought process.
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Where the movie truly shines is in the small moments, a morning breakfast had on an exercise ball, a late night in a diner drinking milkshakes, the blue light of a nightclub bathroom. These moments are strung together like a highlight reel in the back of your mind, the way memories tend to linger.
It's truly the work of Pugh and Garfield that allows for this to come to life; their combined performance can break the audience apart with only a glance at their face. The silent chemistry caught between glances is what truly sells the dynamic between the couple in the movie. Even in the face of frustrations or difficult times as they also dealt with IVF, what never leaves is the amount of admiration the characters have for one another. The use of close-ups throughout the film in a warm color palette helps to bring this to life across the screen.
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Despite this deep connection, the film also beautifully illustrates that there are parts of ourselves we keep only for us. Tobias doesn’t discover until much later in their relationship that Almut was once a competitive ice skater, a hobby she shared only with her father before he fell ill and passed away. This subtle detail underscores how certain parts of our lives are reserved for specific people and periods of our lives, only to be revealed when the past and present converge.
That’s not to say there’s no tension between the two. When Tobias learns that Almut has been competing in a renowned cooking competition behind his back, tensions reach a boiling point. Her dedication to the competition causes her to forget to pick up their daughter from daycare, resulting in Tobias receiving a panicked phone call at work.
It's during these arguments in the film that the two are able to finally come to an understanding, as Tobias wants to focus on their family and togetherness in these final months while Almut wants to prove to her daughter that she isn't just a bleak memory of a mother who got sick. She is an accomplished woman, someone to be proud of, to remember, and even in her darkest moment was able to achieve one of the biggest accolades in the cooking world. This does, however, come at the cost of the wedding, but Tobias in the end completely supports her goal after she explains why she has been so hellbent on being able to pursue this despite a condition where she is getting sick on the job and physically straining her body to the highest degree that she can handle.
When the final scenes of the film bring this cinematic testament of love to a close, the stunning visual of Almut suddenly leaving the cooking competition in a silent recognition of her accolade and doing so with a smile on her face. The three of them go ice skating, and as Almut performs a trick, she skates away from her husband and child in what can represent a physical goodbye, but it isn't done with sadness; it's done with her exact goal in mind, an amazing memory with what can only be described as a pure look of joy on her face, and then she is gone without any sort of sad memory.
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In place of this, the film ends with laughter between Tobias and their daughter as they are playfully gathering eggs from the chicken coop to go in and cook together. The very activity Almut cherished most, and as they begin cracking eggs into two different bowls, carefully separating out the yolks in their shells, they are carrying on her memory in the exact way that she would prepare a breakfast.
The scene is a physical representation of only the light that she carried, a visual way to perfectly live out her goal of amazing memories. As the film cuts to black, the emotional weight of the story that just unfolded hits you like a weight.
Despite not seeing any view of death, it is the absence of loss being shown that truly illustrates to the audience how much life a person can hold even when they're gone. Overall, the film captures beautifully why it is worth living deeply and cherishing the time we have with those we have chosen to spend our time with, even if it may be short.
