The 'We Live in Time' Trailer Starts with the Ultimate Meet-Cute
Andrew Garfield as Tobias and Florence Pugh as Almut in 'We Live in Time'
A24
We Live in Time has been on the awards buzz radar since it was first announced in 2023. The film stars Florence Pugh (Little Women) and Andrew Garfield (Under the Banner of Heaven) as the main couple in a dramatic romance. She's a chef with big dreams; he works in commercial foods, and the two of them run into each other the first time because she runs him over with her car. It's the ultimate meet-cute if you don't mind the near-vehicular manslaughter charges Alma narrowly avoids on her way to the altar.
The film attempts to keep the big twist under wraps. Still, the moment the electric razor comes out and lovers start shaving each other's heads, anyone who knows romance tropes will know where this is going: it's a "Terminally Ill Romance" movie, also known as a "Cancer Drama." This time, Alma is in the hospital, and Tobias is taking care of her as their daughter slowly grows up. At least, she sort of does. Like many modern family dramas where tissues are mandatory and weeping expected, We Live in Time takes the This Is Us route of interweaving the timelines so that one minute, Tobias lives at home with his dad, and the next, he's helping deliver a child as Alma has contractions in their bathroom.
That's not to look down on the film; romantic dramas have been few and far between as box office hits in the last decade. Moreover, it's not really about the contrived tropes as it is about the chemistry between the leads, and the two actors practically ooze chemistry in the film's official trailer.
Here's the film's synopsis:
We Live in Time watches as Almut and Tobias are brought together in a surprise encounter that changes their lives. Through snapshots of their life together — falling for each other, building a home, becoming a family — a difficult truth is revealed that rocks its foundation. As they embark on a path challenged by the limits of time, they learn to cherish each moment of the unconventional route their love story has taken.
Pugh stars as Almut, and Garfield is Tobias. The film also co-stars Adam James (Hotel Portofino), Marama Corlett (Sick Note), Aoife Hinds (Normal People), Nikhil Parmar (The Rig), Heather Craney (Torchwood), Douglas Hodge (The Great), Niamh Cusack (The Tower), Lucy Briers (Gentleman Jack), and Kerry Godliman (Whitstable Pearl).
Nick Payne (Wanderlust) penned the script from an original idea StudioCanal developed with Adam Ackland and Benedict Cumberbatch's outfit Sunnymarch. (Cumberbatch is listed as the project's executive producer.) Irish filmmaker John Crowley (Brooklyn) is directing, and Ackland, Leah Clarke, and Guy Heeley are also listed as producers.
We Live in Time premieres in U.S. theaters on Friday, October 11, 2024.
