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Nearly a decade after the Oscar-nominated film “Brooklyn,” Irish director John Crowley has returned to the romantic drama genre. His latest work, “We Live in Time,” is an attempt by the director to elevate the genre into a newer storytelling form.

While “We Live in Time” leans on a tradition of wide-spanning love stories like 2011’s “One Day” or the classic rom-com “When Harry Met Sally…”, it uses a nonlinear narrative to make a larger point about love and its relationship with time in the form of classic British romantic dramas. The film may not be greater than the sum of its parts, with weak character-building littered throughout, but still remains an effectively heartbreaking drama with habitually emotional performances from Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh.

The movie follows chef Almut (Pugh) and divorced Weetabix employee Tobias (Garfield) through their trials and tribulations of love over a decade. Almut receives a cancer diagnosis in the first few minutes of the film, right before the meet-cute, where she hits her future lover with her car.

But with the sequence of events told intentionally out of order, Crowley and the film focus on love’s circular nature. A three-act romantic story can have the same effect even though you see them near the end before they’re dating.

The carousel that featured the viral horse meme in the film’s promotional materials is an apt metaphor for the entire story. In that moment, Almut and Tobias are experiencing a moment of joy and true love, but the carousel continues to move, implying that the joy and love will not last, and pain and suffering will replace it. Eventually, after enough adversity and woe, the love will come back.

The nonlinear structure serves these themes well. While the story is out of chronological order, Almut and Tobias’ feelings for one another change both positively and negatively. A scene where the couple is trying to spend precious moments can be immediately contrasted with a scene arguing about having children. Ideas of love can morph over time both positively and negatively, but a general acceptance of going with the flow can lead lovers back to a place of true happiness in the face of dire circumstances.

Garfield and Pugh portray this dynamic well, where they have to go from scene to scene, drastically changing their emotions based on the characters’ histories at that point. Garfield taps into a well of emotion that can relate to audience members who have family that have dealt with cancer — i.e., most people.

Pugh, meanwhile, has made a career out of playing women who are trapped in one way or another. In 2019’s “Midsommar,” she plays a woman stuck with a gaslighting boyfriend and in 2022’s dumpster fire “Don’t Worry Darling,” she remains stuck in a simulated world where men get to play out their 1950s nuclear family fantasies.

But “We Live in Time” changes and internalizes the dynamic for Pugh. Her character is trapped in an imbalance between love and time. The pain and dissatisfaction that Pugh explores feel as though it comes from experience, imbuing more reality into a love story that already feels mostly grounded.

As Almut gets cancer, she struggles to prioritize love or her career as a chef, as highlighted by a contrived dilemma where an international chef competition and her wedding with Tobias happen on the same weekend. While Pugh can interiorize these conflicting feelings, this moment is where “We Live in Time” starts to lose its footing in excessive profundity. Of course, there are instances like this that happen in real-world relationships. Though the situation feels underdeveloped and forced to create a form of tension that can only be found in movies.

Additionally, the surrounding characters and circumstances could use more detail to further portray a resounding statement on love. Tobias talks of his first marriage in very vague terms, with a brief explanation for why he and his first love did not end up staying together. But it’s never mentioned again, missing the opportunity to show how one’s experiences with love and time can evolve.

In spite of its shortcomings in building characters’ backgrounds, “We Live in Time” feels quite satisfied in its position. The movie wants to lightly tackle grand ideas about love and time but still wants to remain rooted in a classic tradition of weepy British romantic dramas. Crowley, Pugh and Garfield all know this and they use their creativity and emotions to craft a romantic film for adults that will be successful in tugging heartstrings.

Published on October 22, 2024 at 9:58 pm

Contact Henry: henrywobrien1123@gmail.com