Spoilers I suppose.
Life is messy and decidedly nonlinear when viewed in hindsight — instead emerging as a series of snapshots, coincidences, and a confluence of events that create our experiences and define our relationships. Appropriately then, the 2024 film, We Live in Time, tells the story of Almut (played by Florence Pugh) and Tobias (played by Andrew Garfield) in a nonlinear fashion through the milestone moments of their time together: courtship, uncertainty, pregnancy, ovarian cancer, and persistence. I could not think of a more lovely pairing of two people to represent this beautiful, heartfelt story than Pugh and Garfield, whose chemistry made this movie sing.
Almut and Tobias met the night Tobias was signing divorce papers with his wife. While on the road after procuring the necessary pen to sign the papers, Almut accidentally runs him over with her vehicle. They begin spending more time together. Find someone in your life who looks at you the way Garfield looked at Pugh when she demonstrated the best way to crack an egg (on a flat surface and in two separate bowls because it’s easier to get a piece of the shell out of one egg versus many).
Their first argument is over children. Tobias wants children and Almut is rather aghast that Tobias would use the pressure point of her “biological clock” as a cloud over their budding courtship. Of course, since the film is told in a nonlinear narrative, we already know Almut’s time is indeed limited due to the ovarian cancer, but still, Tobias was in the wrong. He apologizes while nonetheless recognizing how rude she was in rebuffing him. It taught them the valuable lesson of focusing on what’s right in front of you instead of what’s to come.
Instead of a full hysterectomy as part of the ovarian cancer treatment, Almut opts for partial, so they can still conceive a child, which obviously makes Tobias happy. After conceiving and through pregnancy, in one of the, oddly, loveliest scenes of the film, Almut has her baby girl in the bathroom of petrol station. The petrol attendants were helpful! You could also feel Tobias’ desperation beforehand, though, as he tried to knock down the bathroom door to get to Almut.
A few years later, the wretched cancer returns and instead of any immediate treatment, Almut wants to have a few amazing months. Tobias proposes (with a wild assortment of candles, which always looks great on film, but makes me cringe at the fire hazard!) and Almut chases her chef dream of participating in a prestigious cooking competition. However, she didn’t tell Tobias about it, partly because the date of the competition conflicted with their proposed marriage ceremony. The best scene of the whole film is, not surprisingly, a Pugh monologue in response to Tobias (Garfield was fantastic as well), who believes she is prioritizing the competition over her treatment and family. But Almut wants their child to remember her for something other than her decline. She wants her child to look at what she accomplished and go, “Wow, that’s my mom!” I get goosebumps even recounting it. Tobias gives up the marriage ceremony and he and their daughter watch Almut at the cooking competition in a sweet moment of support.
Afterward, they go ice skating. Almut was an Olympic-level figure skater, but she had given it up after her father died. Seeing her doing it again was emotional. Then, the film makes stark what we know is coming, Almut’s death, by showing Almut at the other end of the rink waving to Tobias and their daughter. Ugh. Obligatory: cancer sucks.
The film ends with Tobias teaching their daughter how to crack an egg like Almut. So beautiful and affecting. Legacy is the little things, too, if not more so than the big, flashy items. It’s learning to crack an egg like mom did.
Pugh and Garfield were sensational, sensitive, authentic, and charming. Their acting range was on full display to properly convey the “snapshots” of a relationship, and indeed, soared the most for me in those little moments or gestures. For example, I love that Tobias took up the notetaking on anything medical for Almut. Or that Almut ultimately walked off the set of the cooking competition to be with her family. Director John Crowley mostly just needed to let these two do their thing and be patient in those small moments. In my estimation, Pugh is our best modern actress, and We Live in Time is a showcase for why. Moreover, not many other actors carry the believable sensitivity in their face, while also able to turn to incredulous anger, like Garfield.
I’m all in my feels after finishing the film. Life is fleeting and cruel (cancer sucks) and lovely and beautiful and uncertain and nonlinear and messy. We only make it through it all with the help of others — the love of and from others.
Milam's Musings 