David R. Walker

We Live in Time

Director: John Crawley

Cast: Andrew Garfield, Florence Pugh, Adam James, Douglas Hodge

Running Time: 1 hour 48 minutes

Film Rating: 6 out of 10

There was hardly any pre-publicity for this film and I can see why.

Brooklyn and The Goldfinch director John Crawley’s non-linear romantic drama We Live In Time featuring Oscar nominees Florence Pugh (Little Women) and Andrew Garfield (Hacksaw Ridge, Tick Tick Boom) star as a young couple Tobias, an ad executive for Weetbix and Almut, head chef for a Anglo-Bavarian restaurant in a film which doesn’t elevate into a truly memorable drama.

Unfortunately screenwriter Nick Payne decided for some bizarre reason to mix up the chronological order of this couple’s timeline of romance from the initial meeting literally by accident to their eventual coupling and then pregnancy and the dramatic birth of their first child, a daughter. So the storyline comes across as confusing and uninteresting made worse by the fact that Andrew Garfield’s character Tobias had no character defects or recognizable foibles.

There was nothing eccentric or vaguely sexy about Tobias. The whole film basically centred on Almut’s character well played to a degree by Florence Pugh but one got the feeling that this character also needed more depth.

Almut is an ambitious chef that wants to enter an international cuisine competition but battles between raising a daughter and dealing with a devastating ovarian cancer diagnosis. Pugh does her best in an essentially very mediocre film in which her male lead brings nothing of value to a film about two quirky ordinary people whose lives are not even that fascinating. These characters are not eccentric or rich or even evil. They are just boring.

At least in Babygirl both Nicole Kidman and Harris Dickinson’s characters were both so utterly compelling and kinky.

Adam James from the Belgravia TV series appears briefly as Almut’s mentor Simon Maxson and Douglas Hodge (Joker, Gemini Man) stars as Tobias’s dad Reginald. Both actors unfortunately don’t add any real value to the narrative.

We Live in Time is utterly underwhelming as a film and you cannot make the main backdrop of a romantic film the dreary Herne Hill in London. Set the film in Tuscany or Provence.

Romance needs to be alluring and beautiful, not dull and depressing, which is what this film is.

Despite Florence Pugh’s best efforts, We Live In Time is a depressing, confusing and extremely dull British romantic drama which is best avoided.  

We Live In Time gets a film rating of 6 out of 10 and lacks any character depth and genuine conflict beyond the tragic subject of cancer and chemotherapy. Even in this romantic drama, there are very few fleeting moments to cherish. Not recommended viewing.

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