We Live in Time has teased a gripping, emotional plot that will almost surely have audiences tearing up by the time it reaches its ending.
Starring fan-favorite stars of the screen Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh, the upcoming romantic drama comes from Brooklyn filmmaker John Crowley and A24.
The movie is set to come to theaters sometime this fall, potentially setting up a sizable award play for the studio and its stars.
What Will Happen in We Live in Time?
Following the release of its first trailer, fans have become ravenous for info on the plot set to unfold in Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh's We Live in Time.
At the time of writing, exact plot specifics for the romantic drama are few and far between. The movie has only just started its marketing cycle, and it is not based on any sort of source material (i.e., a novel or TV series), meaning there is little to go on.
However, there have been a few key nuggets shown off leading many to think they know where this story is going.
As teased in the marketing for the movie, We Live in Time will follow a pair of characters throughout their lives as they find love with one another, build upon it, and then (seemingly) have to let go of it.
The film stars Florence Pugh's Almut, a young superstar chef, who meets Andrew Garfield's Tobias after she accidentally hits him with her car on the highway. The pair then slowly become taken with one another, building a relationship and then ultimately a life together.
According the to movie's official synopsis, this story will be told across a decade showing "snapshots of their life" where a "difficult truth" meets them at their end:
"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."
This "difficult truth" pushes the couple beyond anything they have had to experience before, as they are now challenged by "the limits of time:"
"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, in filmmaker John Crowley’s decades-spanning, deeply moving romance."
While not expressly said in any of the movie's pre-promotional marketing, it is assumed this is alluding to a cancer diagnosis or some other terminal illness that befalls Pugh's Almut.
Further evidence of some supposed medical emergency was seen in set photos leaked from the project, showing Pugh and Garfield's characters stuck in a traffic jam on the way to the hospital.
However, given that the couple getting pregnant and having a baby looks as though it will be one of the narrative threads woven into We Live in Time's plot, these set photos could be showing a moment during that.
Something is coming for Pugh's character though. She is seen in several sequences in the movie's first trailer talking about treatments, wanting to be remembered, and even shaving her head. This is why the working theory is that her character is diagnosed with cancer at some point in the film.
The focus of this narrative motif of time, exemplified in the movie's title as well as its synopsis seems to suggest We Live in Time will not end happily.
Throughout the trailer, Pugh and Garfield's characters are seen confronting the inevitability of the situation they have found themselves in.
This happens both in the trailer's framing device of having to tell their young daughter something important (assumed to be the news of the cancer diagnosis) and the focus of Almut's drive to use what little time she has left to appreciate what she has.
With all this in mind, one can assume Fugh's character will not make it out of the movie's ending, leaving the man she loved behind along with her daughter as she departs for the great beyond.
No, this does not sound like the happiest plot in the world, but its potential ending should not sour audiences on taking the journey along with Garfield and Pugh's characters.
The story seems to be a sprawling tale of romance between these two, putting a particular emphasis on the moments along the way as opposed to the destination (no matter not tear-jerking it may turn out to be).
We Live in Time is set to hit theaters sometime this fall with no specific release date yet revealed.
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