We Live in Time Director Reveals How Scattered Timeline Brought ‘Complexity’ To Andrew Garfield, Florence Pugh Starrer; ‘Epic within a postcard size’
We Live in Time is a touching and heartbreaking story about family, love, and loss spanning several decades. Instead of going through the eras sequentially, director John Crowley opted for a “nonlinear” timeline for the film. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, he revealed how that decision brought depth to the plot.
Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield star as Almut and Tobias, respectively in the film. Their paths cross in an accidental meet-cute, which becomes the foundation of the whirlwind romance, marriage, and parenthood that follows. The story jumps back and forth in different timelines, a choice Crowley thought was necessary.
“The nonlinear aspect of the film gave it a degree of complexity,” he said, noting that it allowed them to explore multiple facets of a marriage, covering various “emotional tones and territory” in a short span of time. “That also made what was already two meaty roles for two great actors even better because it is epic within a postcard size,” he added.
The film opens with Tobias and Almut with their young daughter but later jumps to the night they met when the latter accidentally hits the former with her car. This is followed by a mashup of timelines that jumps between the events leading to their relationship, Almut’s first cancer diagnosis, her growing success as a chef and preparation of culinary olympics Bocuse d’Or, their married life, and more.
“It was always the ambition to run three time frames against each other — one across a day, one across six months, and one across five years,” the director revealed. His purpose was to give a sense of what it feels being on the inside of a relationship — often built on shards of memories together.
When contemplating one’s bond with someone, the core memories with them flash in the form of either a detailed one-act play or as quick as a snapshot. That’s why Crowley wanted each sequence to feel like a part of a crucial storyline. “We don’t live our lives in a particularly linear way…It’s about two people trying to create a life for themselves,” he added.
We Live in Time will have a limited theatrical release in the US on October 11.
