We Live in Time

♣♣♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣

Tobias Durand (Andrew Garfield) works as a representative for breakfast cereal Weetabix and is about to sign his divorce papers when his pen runs out of ink mid-signing. He heads to a convenience store in his bathrobe to purchase four pens and a box of cookies, dropping one on the way back, leaning over to pick it up, and getting run over by a car in the process. Former figure skater turned chef Almut Brühl (Florence Pugh) takes him to the hospital and apologizes for the mishap, offering a free dinner at the restaurant where she works, for him and his wife. After disclosing the truth about his divorce, the two hit it off, end up in a relationship, and eventually welcome a daughter. Everything seems happy until she is diagnosed with stage three ovarian cancer and given several options for treatment, none of which, unfortunately, guaranteeing a positive outcome.

The director chooses a non-linear approach. The title: We Live in Time. The plot: jumps all the time. She has a daughter in one scene and then childless and pregnant in the next. She has her head shaved in a scene and then her long blonde locks are back in the next. It is confusing and does not make much sense. On the contrary, it does make a lot of sense if you look at it from the perspective of a person diagnosed with stage three cancer and given only half a year to live should treatments fail. In a way, isn't this how we, as human beings, would end up viewing our life as a whole when confronted with the concept of impending death? Jumping through and between memories that need not be chronological. A sizzle reel of your life to date.

In that case, the non-linear approach seems like a good idea. Being forced to face our own mortality, we no longer tend to look forward as society has always dictated we ought to do, simply because there is no more future to look forward to. In such a scenario, the most logical way to continue is to look backward at all the memories you have collected as a human being, a collection of moments that have formed your life up to that moment. We Live in Time succeeds in highlighting this aspect by focusing on small moments, most of them trivial and annoying at the time they occur before turning into laughable memories down the line.

That entire divorce signing sequence, for instance, is just so detailed and a bit absurd, but utilized to its full potential as a plot device for a fateful meeting. It also leads you to expect one thing only for it to end up being another thing entirely, adding a fun twist. The birth scene at the gas station from start to finish is one of, if not the highlight of the movie. It just appears to be so funny and out of the ordinary yet all the emotions are there for you to bask in. In the end, you just feel like you were there with them in that toilet, witnessing a moment that will serve as a core memory for the couple in the years to come.

As for performances, both Garfield and Pugh have been nominated left and right for various performances in their career so far. We Live in Time is less demanding in terms of physicality. There isn’t much action involved because it’s a movie that zeroes in on the feels. As such, the actors have to rely much on non-verbal cues to establish the mood and make you feel things. Both actors can accomplish much with their eyes alone, but Garfield needs special mention thanks to those big puppy eyes of his that never fail to provoke an emotional reaction every time they turn watery.

The ending is anticlimactic and couldn’t have been more mundane. If this were a Filipino movie it would’ve been set in a hospital or a cemetery with a chorus of hysterics amid heavy rain. Luckily, the director understood the assignment: Less is more. They opt for a symbolic goodbye at an ice skating rink, with the closing scene in the kitchen rather humdrum but harking back to an earlier one when the couple was just getting to know one another. It lacks oomph, but is more realistic. After all, the world does not end when a person dies. Eventually, life goes on, as it always does.

We Live in Time is a powerful portrait of grief buoyed up by beautiful performances from Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield. They won’t be winning any awards for this one, but many will remember them for this film thanks to their poignant and memorable portrayal.