| Director: | John Crowley |
| Music: | Bryce Dessner |
| Cinematography: | Stuart Bentley |
| Editing: | Justine Wright |
| Distributor: | StudioCanal |
| Runtime: | 108 minutes[1] |
| Language: | English |
| Gross: | $31.5 million[2] [3] |
We Live in Time is a 2024 romantic comedy-drama film directed by John Crowley from a screenplay by Nick Payne. It follows the relationship of a couple (Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh) over the course of a decade.[4] The film implements the use of non-linear storytelling.
The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on 6 September 2024 and was released in the United States on 11 October 2024 by A24. It is scheduled to be released by StudioCanal in the United Kingdom on 1 January 2025.[5] [6] It received generally positive reviews from critics, with specific praise for the performances, and has grossed $31 million worldwide.
Weetabix representative Tobias Durand, while out purchasing a pen to sign divorce papers served to him by his wife, wanders into the road and is struck by a car driven by Almut Brühl, a former figure skater turned Bavarian-fusion chef. At the hospital, Almut offers to treat Tobias and his wife to a meal at the restaurant she works at, though Tobias does not disclose his divorce to her. On the night of his dinner, Tobias, now separated, goes to the restaurant alone, informing Almut of his divorce. The two go to Almut's flat after dinner and have sex. They move in together soon afterwards.
Months later, Tobias expresses to Almut his desire to start a family with her and that he has begun to fall in love with her. She rebuffs him rudely, and he leaves without saying a word. Later, at a baby shower for one of Almut's co-workers, Tobias sneaks in and apologises to Almut for his hastiness while criticising the way she responded to him in front of all the guests. He once again professes his love to her and they reconcile.
Almut discovers that she has ovarian cancer and explains to Tobias that her gynecologist has recommended she get a hysterectomy to prevent the cancer's worsening. Though Tobias intends to respect Almut's decision, she chooses to undergo treatment until her cancer eventually goes into remission. After numerous subsequent attempts to conceive a child, Tobias and Almut are happy when she becomes pregnant. On New Year's Eve, she gives birth to a baby girl in a petrol station bathroom after she and Tobias had their car stuck in traffic on their way to the hospital.
Around three years later, Almut, now the head chef of her own higher-scale restaurant and having moved with her family to a small cottage and farm, begins feeling pains in her waist. At the doctors, Almut and Tobias learn that her cancer has advanced to stage 3, and that she would need to begin chemotherapy as soon as possible before any tumour removal surgery can be done, though there is still no guarantee of survival. Almut, hesitant to undergo treatment again, proposes living "six to eight amazing months" instead of spending her potential last months sick and in agony. They explain the situation to their young daughter, Ella. After Tobias finally proposes marriage to Almut, she decides to undergo treatment.
Around the same time as her diagnosis, Almut is invited by her colleague Simon to participate in the Bocuse d'Or, a prestigious cooking competition. Despite her training conflicting with both her treatments as well as her wedding, she agrees to compete; Almut and her commis Jade win the UK selections and reach the finals, which take place in Italy on the day of Almut and Tobias's proposed wedding ceremony. Upon discovering this, Tobias angrily scolds her for choosing the competition over her life and family, and Almut responds that she would rather her daughter remember her as an accomplished chef than merely someone she watched fall ill and die. He begrudgingly cancels their wedding and agrees with Almut to continue training for the finals.
In Italy, in June, Tobias and Ella attend the finals of the Bocuse d'Or and watch Almut cook. As she becomes weaker, beginning to falter at the end of the plating of the last dish, she lets Jade take control, and they successfully finish in time. Almut promptly leaves with Tobias and their daughter afterwards and they go skating at a nearby ice rink.
Some time later, Tobias and Ella return home from their chicken coop alone alongside their new dog, which Almut and Tobias had considered getting for Ella to help her psychologically should her mother die. Tobias then teaches his daughter how to crack an egg, just as her mother had taught him.
Nick Payne developed the script for We Live in Time with StudioCanal. The film is executive produced by Benedict Cumberbatch for his London-based company SunnyMarch; also producing are Leah Clarke, Adam Ackland for SunnyMarch, and Guy Heeley for Shoebox films, as well as Ron Halpern and Joe Naftalin for StudioCanal.[7]
In March 2023, Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh were in talks to star in the film, which was announced shortly after Garfield and Pugh presented an award together at the 95th Academy Awards.[7] Principal photography began in London in April 2023, with cast and crew reported in Herne Hill.[8] [9] Later that month, they were spotted at a Co-op in Blackfen.[10]
The film's score was produced by Bryce Dessner.[11] Romy and Sampha performed the film's credits song, "I'm on Your Team".[12]
In May 2023, A24 acquired U.S. distribution rights to the film.[13] StudioCanal handled worldwide sales and will distribute directly in France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Poland, the Benelux, Australia and New Zealand.[14] A first look image of the film displaying the leads sharing a "cute scene" became an internet meme due to the presence of an "ugly carousel horse" in frame.[15] [16] [17] [18]
We Live in Time premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on 6 September 2024.[19] For its European premiere, it was selected to close the official selection of the 72nd San Sebastián International Film Festival, playing out of competition.[20] A24 scheduled the film for a limited theatrical release in the United States on 11 October 2024 and for a wide theatrical release from 18 October 2024.[21] The film will be released theatrically in the United Kingdom and Ireland on 1 January 2025.[22] Beta Fiction Spain will release theatrically the film in Spain on 3 January 2025.
, We Live in Time has grossed $24.6million in the United States and Canada, and $6.9million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $31.5million.[2]
In its limited opening weekend in the United States and Canada, the film made $232,615 from five theaters, an average of $46,523 per venue.[23] Expanding to 985 theaters the following weekend the film made $4.2 million, finishing in fifth.[24] Playing in 2,968 theaters in its third weekend, the film made $4.8 million and remained in fifth place.[25] The film then made $3.5 million[26] and $2.2 million in its fourth and fifth weekends, respectively.[27]
Audiences surveyed by PostTrak gave the film an 83% overall positive score, with 63% saying they would definitely recommend it.[25]
Benjamin Lee, for The Guardian, gave the film 4 stars out of 5 and wrote, "I found its throwback nature to be immensely charming, a big, full-throated romantic drama that knows exactly how to make us swoon as well as make us sad. I hope there’s time for more like it."[28]
In her review for The New York Times, Manolha Dargis praised the character of Almut, and Pugh's performance but found the film only "trie[d] to be modern".[29]
Brianna Zigler, writing for The A.V. Club, called the film "unimaginative and weirdly regressive," and opined that Garfield and Pugh, while "likable and sweet" were also "thin" and "boring", and were not convincing in their depiction of their characters' relationship. Zigler also did not think Almut's decisions regarding her cancer and motherhood were plausible.[30]
Brian Tallerico at RogerEbert.com, who gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, said that Pugh and Garfield elevated what was otherwise a shallow script, and singled out Garfield in particular as the standout performance. On the nonlinear narrative, Tallerico thought that while appearing to be random at first glance, it exhibited "an emotional logic" upon a closer examination, in a way that evoked the way a person may remember key moments in their life as it comes to an end. Tallerico was uncertain if there were not too many time jumps, commenting, "The chronological jumble will be a dealbreaker for some people who like their weepers straightforward", but speculated that the challenge in making this structure work is what attracted the actors to the project in the first place.[31]
Reviewing the film for Variety, Peter Debrugge thought the sequences in which the scenes were laid out was arbitrary, and in a way that made mapping out nonlinear narrative difficult. Debrugge wondered if there was a "way to unscramble" the film.[32] Glenn Whipp of the Los Angeles Times had a similar appraisal of the sequencing of the scenes, which he felt did not elevate the film's concept. While Whipp praised Pugh and Garfield, he felt that the film's execution of the non-linear structure distanced the audience from the two performers, rendering Almut and Tobias as concepts rather than characters.[33]