We Live In Time
Man meets woman as woman runs man over picking up segment of chocolate orange on a busy road. And he works for Weetabix, which will lead to more McVities encounters in the future. In this weepy and time-bound romantic drama we focus equally on the love interest and the food.
The man aka Weetabix is Andrew Garfield (Tobias Durand). The apologetic strong woman behind the wheel is Florence Pugh’s chef and restauranteur Almut Brühl, not to be mistaken for Almond! Flicking backwards and forwards through time, we encounter the couple as they’re very much together and fighting their way out of a tight parking space to get to the hospital on time, to their first meeting and then to first dates through ingredients!
However, this is no UK The Taste of Things. Instead, it’s about choices along the way, very grounded and real. What I liked was Florence Pugh’s Almut Brühl showing a real portrayal of birth — breathing, not screaming! (And ofcourse there’s a stop at a petrol station for the birth!) I’m not sure we always heard Andrew Garfield’s Tobias’s voice fully or got to experience his choices really (or what he wanted from life). There were some tear-jerking and tender moments as Almut’s choices (and self-focusedness) at times hurt him. There wasn’t always enough give and take in their relationship and the movie didn’t really explore that further. He was definitely apprentice to the chef and there to support (and say ‘yes chef!)
On the other hand, we did see a strong portrayal of a professional and highly skilled woman living with a cancer diagnosis — and choosing life, to live her life, which I don’t think we’ve seen before. Despite the symptoms, using her artistic and creative, professional abilities to the full, but also (in the end) knowing when to stop and listen to her body and her health. It felt a bit like a modern Richard Curtis comedy — Notting Hill: the Next Gen.
Uniquely, its measured tone gave the ending even more bitter-sweetness. Overall, Pugh and Garfield have great chemistry and bring emotional range and maturity to their parts as we bounce backwards and forwards among the memories of their relationship. See it too for gentle and kind Reginald Durand (played by Douglas Hodge), his lovely and encouraging relationship with his son, and his definitely being put in the corner encountering the rumbunctious Brühl family for the first time! Enjoy too Brühl’s friends (who are less like Bridget Jones’s friends/groupies and more like real long-term friends) and the wide-eyed supportive sous chef in the competition. Watch out for Benedict Cumberbatch in the credits as a producer — and yet we have been Sherlocked by this heartfelt drama!
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