The new movie “We Live in Time” can be seen as a tearjerker from a mile away. Like almost all movie tearjerkers, the story once again involves Cancer – in this case, stage 3 Ovarian Cancer. The difference with this film is how the story is told, through a series of “revolving flashbacks” in one of the most unusual ways I have ever seen a story unfold.
We Live in Time stars Andrew Garfield as Tobias and Florence Pugh as Almut, a married couple dealing with trying to have a child and Almut’s diagnosis of Cancer. They meet after Almut accidentally hits Tobias with her car while he is retrieving a pen so he can sign his divorce papers, definitely a new idea where two people meet for the first time. This story also includes Almut and Tobias’ attempts to conceive a child, which include trying IVF and their arguments that include Tobias wanting a child and Almut’s doubts that she ever wants to be a parent. The decision about Almut’s treatment is made by the couple early on to choose to live with quality rather than quantity to prolong Almut’s life despite her terminal Cancer diagnosis and months of chemotherapy treatment.
The secondary story involves Almut, who is a professional Chef, entering a Chef competition with her work partner which seemed to have more to do with making this film lasting a full two hours than any other reason.
The world is sick of hearing about Cancer, the scourge of humanity for many decades, and the only solutions being chemo therapy and removing body parts. Considering the money generated from Cancer treatment in the world, the odds are high that the medical profession does not want to cure cancer, for fear of losing trillions of dollars of revenue. This movie is another tear-jerker, but it was produced well enough to recommend.
I mostly agree with the 79% ratings for this film on Rotten Tomatoes and do recommend this movie due to the well told story and solid acting performances from Garfield and Pugh.
A Screenwriters Perspective: Current and Past Movies. 