You almost have to see the New Florence Pugh-Andrew Garfield romance to believe it

According to its star, Florence Pugh, We live in time “About the simplest things, which is that we are here, I personally believe, for one reason only: love and love.” It's the movie that was previously best known for a viral promo photo of Pugh and his co-star Andrew Garfield with a bugged-out carousel horse canoodling among the cavalry. Well, I've now seen this simple romance, and I'm here to tell you that it will soon be known for something else: a completely uncomfortable premise that is destined to be a sign of terminal heterosexuality.

Let me just tell you what happens (Ahemspoilers ahead). Director John Crowley's rom-dramedy explores the relationship between its main characters, Brits Almut (Pugh) and Tobias (Garfield), from beginning to tragic end, albeit outside the norm. Three distinct timelines representing different stages of the relationship are woven together to give you the idea that the story is more complicated than it seems. Focusing on Almut's perspective, We live in time A tug-of-war between a modern sensibility needed to make this thing pop and the traditionalism that could make it, in Pugh's estimation, “one of those movies that's going to matter to a lot of people and live a long time.” In other words, a lot of old- A new-school classic with a school twist.

Almut is a modern girl—the kind who keeps condoms in a bedside drawer (“So low expectations,” she says after Tobias admits she doesn't have one) and soon after meeting the cuisine devoted to her career as an Anglo-Bavarian chef, Almut tells Tobias that Kids aren't really his thing. But they are is her thing, and she ignores his words for just a few weeks before returning to the subject, which leads to the monumental declaration of love that movies long endure: “I'm worried that there's a very distinct and real possibility that I'm going to fall in love with you, ” she says. Her response is dismissive when she broaches the conversation (“I'm sorry, but what are you really talking about right now?”), and she stays that way Unwilling to make such a commitment: “And there's actually a bit of me that thinks 'fuck you' for even asking.”

But Almut can only resist the gravitational pull of heteronormativity for so long. When she is diagnosed with cancer soon, she has the option of a partial or total hysterectomy. Complete hysterectomy carries a lower risk of recurrence (and you know, a lower risk of death). Yet he chooses the former, arguing, “Just because I never saw myself having children in a general sense doesn't mean there isn't a world I couldn't see myself in when I decided to have them with you.” It's framed as his choice (progressive!), but it's just another example of how Nick Penn's screenplay puts the slightly unpleasant Almut back at the center, no matter the cost. We live in time Almut simply can't justify her existence as a tearjerker if she doesn't die in the end, and so it's no surprise that after taking a risk she has a baby and then is diagnosed with stage 3 ovarian cancer. She gave birth. His decision gave life to one and would take another: his. This is a movie designed not to save a mother's life.

After that second diagnosis—which is revealed early in a film that never stops wandering through time—Almut and Tobias have a heart-to-heart in which he declares that he's “not particularly interested in a treatment plan that accidentally happened in our time. waste,” and would rather choose “six incredible, fantastic, active months than 12 really, really bad passive months.” Because it comes so early in the movie, it seems to announce its premise: Seize the Day! Don't let impending death stop you from living your best life! Despite their shared life and children still not making her an honest woman, Tobias proceeds to propose. Cheers ensue. They are getting married! She's going to spend the rest of her life in a stressful and, by virtually all accounts, hardly fun ordeal of wedding planning! Ya?

There's a bit of theatrical jostling in the gender roles—Almut's work as a chef features prominently, while his as a representative of a cereal company is largely an afterthought. Also, Tobias is on the soft side: at a certain point midway through, it seems like Garfield is quietly acting through tears in every scene. He busies himself sorting out their save-the-date mailers when he can't be arsed, as they say in the UK that amounts to empty gestures. We live in time Decades-old movies have a standard-setting feel—the kind of portrayal of “pure love” that's easy to mistake for a prescription of how things should be. This is a traditional, not conservative, funky costume movie. Sure, it's a mitt, but it's offbeat enough to give a sense of never having seen this thing that we've actually seen countless times: Dressed in a hotel suit, Tobias wanders down a fairly large highway to pick something up off the ground, some pens from a convenience store, and a After retrieving a chocolate-covered orange and getting hit by a car When she arrives at the hospital, Almut is sitting next to her. “I've got you running,” she tells him. The film does little to interrogate Tobias' naivety (the scene where he wanders through traffic like a raccoon is played only for laughs and genuinely distracting). The attempt at levity here can also be tonally jarring, sometimes veering into sitcom territory, as when Almut goes into labor on the way to the hospital and the couple find themselves in a traffic jam. They leave the car to buy snacks for her, she goes to the bathroom and delivers the baby there. Later, they packed into an ambulance to go to the hospital. What happened to their car? Earlier hospital-bound hijinks found their Mini Cooper sandwiched between two nearby parked cars and recalled the tedious process of towing away. Austin Powers bit

There are some interesting things about We live in timeEspecially its lead actor. “Chemistry” seems too strong a word for what's on screen; Short sex scenes cut before they reach a climax. But Pug and Garfield do a convincing job of expressing their love for each other. Her nonverbal performance is particularly important—after learning that children aren't Almut's thing, she subtly winks at him as she prepares food. Elsewhere, there's a lovely moment early in their relationship where he sees her across the room at a party and catches her eye, some silent acknowledgment of growing love. But much the same way We live in time It is also a tearjerker with a weak grip, suspended between the progressive ideology it pretends to and the rigid traditionalism at its core. Choppy editing can't obscure the actual punches pulled. A scene is set to Almut and Tobias telling their child Ella about Almut's cancer only to cut before the explanation and the child's reaction. Almut's first round of treatment has been absolutely brilliant.

In a final twist near the end of the movie, Almut reveals that he is practicing for the prestigious Bocuse d'Or culinary competition, the weekend they are supposed to be married. He effectively chooses his work on marriage, complete with a speech about why the pageant is so important to him. She just doesn't want to be “somebody's dead fucking mom”. She wants her daughter to have something to remember and their relationship not to be defined by her declining health. “Or maybe I just can't bear the thought of actually being forgotten,” Almut says. Regardless, his decision is made, and it seems for a moment We live in time is free from its stuffiest tendencies. It will die at its work station. Tobias then throws their save-the-date cards in the trash, crying at the pain of the unrealistic tradition.

But that particularly exciting third-act announcement makes his story's ending all the more surprising. With seemingly nothing left of the competition (and some crucial help from his sous-chef), Almut takes off his chef's hat, exits the stage before the results are announced, grabbing his family from the stands. , and heads to an ice-skating rink. Earlier in the movie, during a dinner with Almut and Tobias' family, it is revealed that Almut was a competitive figure skater (naturally!). So it looks like if she can't give her daughter a memory of her victory at the Bocuse d'Or, she can at least show off her skating skills. He leaves his family at one end of the rink and starts skating by himself. Sporting a stunt double in the air, Pugh's head is promised through CGI, turning an axis or two. But instead, he just skated faster, hooking and waving around to face them from afar. This is the last time we see Almut—no real fall through cancer (though it prompts him to bang his head and throw up a few times), his daughter unable to sustain any final virtual act. She is not yet a dead mother, but she is a rocking mother. So much for the achievement.

Death itself is implied. In the final scene, Tobias and Ella collect eggs from the chickens outside their house and then prepare the meal. She reminds her daughter of Almut's method of cracking eggs (on a flat surface) and that's it. As a legacy, Almut's is very little cooked. He wants to have everything and dies as a result. So much so We live in time A lot wants to happen in an attempt to transcend the brutal limitations of this kind of romance. “Happless romantic” just begins to describe it it is