Most good movies deal with the problem of coming to terms with life.
WE LIVE IN TIME is a very good movie in that it deals with the problem of coming to terms with life and death.
What elevates WE LIVE IN TIME from some weepy, soapy, saccharine tearjerker is the quality of the writing, the acumen of the director and the chemistry between the two leading actors.
These characters are heroes, truly heroes, embracing life, facing life; in the midst of a devastating diagnosis, they choose life.
WE LIVE IN TIME is not the drama of fantasy and shock. This drama is a part of life, not apart from it. This is drama spiced with humour and lashings of joy.
The sublime Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield star as Almut and Tobias who literally collide into each others lives, a collision of colossal ramification that lives through time.
Like his brilliant stage play, Constellations, Nick Payne’s screenplay presents a progression, a multi platform evolution of the couple’s relationship from flirting, wooing, cohabitation, mortality – life, love and the whole damn thing. The taste of honey accompanied by bee stings.
An accomplished chef, Almut asks herself, should I have a longer life but have a shit time, or do I have a shorter life and have a good time? And she decides to have the best time, full of love, with no regrets, and to focus on leaving a legacy for her daughter so she can say, ‘wow, look at what my mother did.’
Broaching Almut’s disease with their daughter, Ella, the couple think of various strategies, including getting an aged dog. Finally, the decision is made, a practical and symbolic gesture of hair cutting to make it a day their daughter could remember in a positive way. It’s a sublimely beautiful scene.
WE LIVE IN TIME is an exploration of how do we do this thing called life. How do we love freely? How do we take the bridle off and let ourselves expand in the time we live.
John Crowley has made a memorable movie, beautiful, funny, august and glorious.
If you’re looking for the next Four Weddings and a Funeral, you’ve found it in WE LIVE IN TIME.
