Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
An up-and-coming chef and a recent divorcée find their lives forever changed when a chance encounter brings them together, in a decade-spanning, deeply moving romance.
We Live in Time is a well-crafted romantic tearjerker elevated significantly by the committed performances of Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield, whose chemistry and emotional authenticity make the material resonate far beyond its conventional bones. The non-linear structure adds some texture to what is otherwise a familiar illness-and-love narrative, but the plot itself relies heavily on well-worn genre conventions — chance meeting, life-threatening illness, bittersweet parenthood — without meaningfully subverting them. Cinematography is competent and warm but rarely distinctive. Novelty suffers most: the film follows a well-trodden path through romantic drama and tearjerker territory without a sufficiently unique voice or conception to set it apart from peers like Blue Valentine or Ordinary People. The ending is emotionally effective but arrives where you expect it to.