We Live In Time

We Live In Time may be a relationship dramedy that covers a lot of familiar ground but it’s also a perfect example of just how much the stars of a film can elevate mediocre material by the strength of their performances.

Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield bring such heartfelt nuance to the roles of Almut and Tobias that, in the heat of the moment, they make you forget you’ve seen this sort of thing a million times before.

Director John Crowley and Nick Payne also attempt to make us forget that this is a familiar tale by shuffling the timeline so that we dip in and out of the lives of the pair and their daughter Ella (Grace Delaney) but it adds little other than contrivance. Better to have owned the simplicity than to pretend there will be a big revelation by chopping it into pieces, since they fail to deliver anything out of the ordinary.

To talk about the plot of the film would be to cherry pick from the moments that are presented, so it’s perhaps safer simply to say that Tobias (a Weetabix sales rep who likes to write things down) and Almut (a lauded chef) meet in the sort of car crash scenario that only turns up in romcoms, fall in love, and we learn very quickly that a previous cancer she had has returned. The film charts the ups and downs of what follows - and has gone before.

The plot beats may fall exactly where you expect them, as Almut enters a competition even though it means she is less focused on her family, but as with fellow festive release Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, there’s a winning British peculiarity at the edge of the film that adds to the enjoyment. Hollywood, for example, would be unlikely to show two people sharing Jaffa Cakes in the bath. A scene involving the co-opted help of a couple of petrol station workers is also winningly worked.

The chemistry between Pugh and Garfield is what holds the attention. He is sensitive and fragile in the sort of way Colin Firth has always been good at, while she plays Almut with gutsiness and energy while letting something else more vulnerable ripple just below the surface. It’s only a shame that the head of emotional steam they repeatedly generate is, in turn, repeatedly deflated by Payne and Crowley’s time blender approach.