We Live in Time review: a great cast makes this romance zing

We Live in Time isn’t exactly a romcom. It’s a sweeping romance of a love story about a couple who make the most out of their lives together.

We Live in Time shines because of Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield. They have fabulous chemistry and their individual abilities as actors sell their personal stories at the same time. There is a large cast around them but these two are the ones who matter.

The story plays in mixed up order like a memory. One scene might be Almut (Pugh) and Tobias (Garfield) falling in love, the next might be them struggling with IVF, the next might be in a doctor’s office, the next might be them playing with their daughter, the next might be them having sex for the first time.

At first I tried to mentally organize scenes by time – when was this? When was that? It didn’t take long for me to get over that and just flow with it. The chemistry between the characters erased everything else and made this one of the better love stories I’ve seen.

Tobias works in a corporate job for a cereal company. Almut is a chef. She’s the creative one in the family and wants to make a name for herself as a chef.

This couple didn’t follow the rules. They lived together. She got sick. When she recovered they tried for a baby. They had a baby. (Wait until you see where the baby was born!) Eventually they talked about getting married. Almut got sick again. There was a contest for chefs in Europe at the same time their marriage was scheduled. Everything about these two people and their togetherness is revealed in the conflict over the chef competition and the marriage date.

Those were the details. The message was more about celebrating love and life and living to the fullest for as long as possible. I ended up loving the unpredictable way the story was told. John Crowley directed We Live in Time.

Right now the film is in theaters or available to rent from Apple TV+ and Prime Video. It should show up on Max soon as part of the subscription.