We Live in Time: LFF Film Review
I love Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield individually so putting them together for We Live in Time is a match made in heaven for me.
This romance drama tells the story of chef Almut (Pugh) and divorced Weetabix executive Tobias (Garfield) as they embark on a relationship after a chance encounter. The film depicts their highs and lows over the years, with a particular focus on Almut’s illness.
I was expecting to bawl my eyes out at We Live in Time but it only produced a few tears. I blame this on the non-linear narrative, which means that Almut’s illness was shown out of sequence, and the decision to not show her being truly very sick. While I understand why these choices were made, they robbed the story of its emotional heft and left me feeling quite distant from it.
The non-linear structure was frustrating at first because it hops around in time a lot and you have no context to understand where they fit in the grand scheme of this love story. It gets much easier to follow as it goes along as you have that framework and can mentally slot each sequence into the wider picture. It takes place over a long chunk of time so it can’t cover everything but some bits get lost in the time jumps. For example, I would have liked more about Almut changing her mind about having children.
Despite my misgivings with the structure, it was still a delight to watch Pugh and Garfield on screen together. They have fantastic chemistry and I bought into them as a couple. They both have great access to their emotions and aren’t afraid of vulnerability but they’re also playful and funny. Their partnership works so well that this makes up for some dialogue that didn’t ring true.
We Live in Time, directed by John Crowley, tells a beautiful – and very British – romance story that gave me serious Richard Curtis vibes. Some people might find it too neat and sentimental but that wasn’t an issue for me.
Seen at the London Film Festival. In cinemas from 1 January 2025