My Review of We Live In Time (2024)

 

Written by Nick Payne

Directed by John Crowley

Tobias: "So sorry, but do we know each other?"

Almut: "Oh. Yeah... No. Um... sorry... I... I, I ran you over."

My last film for 2024 and while there's a few I've missed that I will have to catch up with in early 2025, at least I'm ending this year on a good note. This one was rather good.

Told in a nonlinear format, we've got our couple - Weetabix guy Tobias Durand (Andrew Garfield) and former figure skater/Bavarian-fusion chef, Almut Brühl (Florence Pugh) and the chaotic romance between the two of them. I mean, it's really chaotic.

The movie started with news of Almut having ovarian cancer and not wanting to continue with an treatment, much to Tobias's dismay. Of course because of the format, the movie tended to go back and forwards with their love story.

There was the fact that Tobias was actually ran over by Almut that led to their meeting in the first place. Then there was casual dating and the two almost falling out over a difference of wanting children. Almut wasn't initially keen on being a mother and even I thought Tobias was a bit too full on with the idea so early into their relationship.

As the movie progressed, Tobias learned about Almut's former career, the latter ended up pregnant and they had a daughter named, Ella (Grace Delaney). They also had to tell Ella about Almut's worsening condition while Almut had one more career goal she wanted to achieve before her death.

The fact that Almut's death was never shown onscreen was an interesting choice. I'm not sure if I liked the choice or not but the final scene between Tobias and Ella as they remembered Almut and notably the way she cracked an egg was rather poignant.

- There's some nice supporting performances from Douglas Hodge, Adam James and Lee Braithwaite in the movie.

- As someone who has no issue eating the Bountys from the Celebrations box at Christmas, I did like seeing Almut do the same.

- Standout music: Romy and Sampha's I'm On Your Team.

- Chronology: Told over the space of ten years in England and Italy (for the Bocuse d'Or) in a nonlinear fashion. 

We Live In Time was certainly a tough watch. Both Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh had to contend with nonlinear storytelling but both of them did a great job in grounding Tobias and Almut's relationship. A sad but a lovely movie.

Rating: 8 out of 10