Director: John Crowley Screenwriter: Nick Payne Cast: Andrew Garfield, Florence Pugh Distributor: A24 Running Time: 107 min. MPAA: R

Romantic dramas tend to focus on the most evocative and theatrical moments, embracing an almost whimsical depiction of love amid grand gestures and meet-cutes. While there are a few of those moments in We Live In Time, the focus is on the relatable and intimate. Here is a film where pregnancy can be an enduring struggle, illness can be approached with gentleness, and meet-cutes can come in the form of a car accident.

Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh are real charmers in this film, where their romantic chemistry is strong in and out of the bedroom. They play Tobias and Almut, respectively, and have weirdly specific jobs, with Almut being a Bavarian-fusion chef and Tobias a Weetabix representative. This gives them enough banter to talk about in their building up towards passionate sex, ranging from Almut’s skillfully egg-cracking technique to Tobias’s adorable admittance of receiving free Wheetabix from work (funny stuff to talk about while taking off your pants). They work so well together that there’s a sweet moment of them both in a bathtub without a single word uttered, as Almut balances a sweet on her pregnant stomach while Tobias remains by her side.

The fat has been trimmed from this type of film thanks to John Crowley’s non-linear direction, giving the film the quality of listening to a highly emotional album set to shuffle. There are three key moments that the movie dashes between for this relationship: when the couple meets, when they become pregnant, and when Almut is diagnosed with ovarian cancer. All of them build off each other to progressively complete the puzzle of this relationship, but are also cleverly staged. There’s no narration, subtitles, or even stark style choices to signal where the audience is currently being placed. Crowley uses plenty of smart visuals and believable dialogue choices to never slow the film down in getting from point A to point C and back again.

While there are certainly different tones to each section of this romance, it never feels like each section is working on one note. The pregnancy chapter might be the most amusing for its gently comical climax of the couple having their baby born in a convenience store bathroom with the helpful staff eager to help. But the pregnancy chapter also has its tender moments, as with the previously mentioned bathroom scene and the way Tobias affectionately tracks her progress in a manner both clinical and compassionate. It’s a sweet reminder that Tobias is in this for the long haul and not just present for the spectacular sex present in the first chapter.

Almut is also given plenty of agency in her existential crisis for the third chapter, where she’s conflicted about getting well for her daughter or going out with a bang. Friction builds up in the family as Almut gets worse as she plunges herself into an international cooking event, leading to an uncomfortable discussion about what matters most when the clock ticks its final minutes. There are bitter tears, but also a strong amount of devotion and passion that carries this couple through the toughest of times. All of it builds up to a wonderfully palindromic finale that arrives with a serene sense of contentment.

There’s an old argument that some harbor about romance movies: they’re all the same because they have a binary plot of whether the couple is remaining together or not. Of course, the real meat of this genre is not how intriguing the plot becomes but how much romantic chemistry works. While there’s more than enough charm to warrant that allure, this picture has the added benefit of telegraphing exactly where this relationship is going. There’s a fascination with the build-up, as early in the film we witness Almut pregnant but later hear her early admittance of not being interested in having children. There’s even some tension when Almut receives news early on about ovarian cancer. As the couple debates their options fearfully and uncertainly, the audience is aware that there’s a mixed bag of joy and sadness in their future with this condition.

We Live In Time is a genuine romantic drama with a relatable level of charm that ascends beyond mere tearjerker status. There’s a natural flow to the fluctuation of the sweet and the sad, but also some surprisingly grounded and intimate sex, where every moment of lovemaking is treated with sincere eroticism rather than letting the music and camera do all the work. Most importantly, this film works by highlighting the moments that matter most in a relationship that was built to last. There’s no need for harping too long on how Almut will break the cancer news to her daughter or how Tobias will give a touching speech about his enduring devotion. We get all that from the ease with how they glow around each other. It’s the moments of having tea parties in the backyard or sharing a meal at a diner that mean so much. This film crafts a patchwork of those types of scenes and wraps them around the audience like a warm blanket, making for an extra comforting dose of romance that is beautiful and alive.

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