The film We Live In Time is a poignant, almost intimate, slice of life tragedy. It’s wholesome and sweet, but from pretty much right away, you know it’s gonna break your heart. Which. I guess? But not in the way you’d expect. Shoutout to Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Michelle Obama!
Divorce Rates and Causes
Starring Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield, this A24 venture echoes A Marriage Story and Million Dollar Baby, but with a more positive overtone about the beauty of life, and a weird undertone about women changing their minds about kids because a skinny white guy came into her life.
See, We Live In Time is a tale told over some ten-odd years where both Pugh and Garfield remain as ageless as only Hollywood actors can be. Pugh undergoes cancer and pregnancy and baldness, all while being the competitive and driven woman that she is. She hits Garfield with a car in the meet cute to end all meet cutes, and she somehow falls for him. Their only interactions before they fuck are “hi, where’s my underwear?” and then “Yeah your cooking is awesome!” Don’t forget a double sprinkling of “I just divorced my wife!”
That’ll woo her!
They briefly split over a discussion about kids: Garfield wants em, Pugh doesn’t. It’s a relatively mature take on one of the leading causes of divorce, so it was interesting how they introduced it here.
Then Garfield decides to break into Pugh’s house after sort of stalking her, stumbles into Pugh’s coworker’s baby shower, and relays platitudes to win Pugh over again. Nice. Nothing like a man who thinks his feelings should override a woman’s plans and feelings.
I don’t know how I missed this, but at some point, Pugh decides to go ahead with having kids. Conception was hard, Garfield was almost weirdly obsessed with her pregnancy, and then in a whimsical, slapstick sequence of events, Pugh is forced to give birth on the floor of a 7/11 bathroom while two strangers witness her most vulnerable and traumatic moments. I mean I get that this (very extended) sequence was supposed to be cute and touching and sparkly with rainbows. Fuck you, that shit was horrifying. I promise, no woman wants to go through that kind of childbirth.
Can Moms Have it All?
After this, Pugh enters some world competition to be a top chef because she’s talented and competitive, and powers heroically through it.
Yes, she falters at points, and I’m not going to throw on a fedora and say that women can’t balance demanding careers and families and also a cancer diagnosis and wedding planning. They can. They do. She did. It was badass. I don’t know that the cooking thing was given enough dramatic weight and time enough for it to warrant the climax, but I bought it. Pugh’s character was endlessly competitive and she felt alive when she accomplished things. This was her magnum opus. Get it girl.
I’d like to also add in a lil tidbit where it’s revealed that her parents are unmarried, and imparted upon Pugh the meaninglessness of the pomp and flair of weddings, as long as their relationship survived. Then we get a fantastic sequence where Pugh and Garfield toured a fucking museum as their wedding venue.
Cats and Kittens
I thought the film was cute at first, if unmemorable. The more I thought about it, though, the more I realized how stupid it was. Florence, baby, why did you do this? Why did you give such a powerhouse of a performance to such a trash movie? Because lord almighty, I thought Pugh’s acting was on par with her performance in Midsommar, and the project was far more meaningful and respectful to her character.
Garfield is a cutie patootie so I’m gonna give him a patriarchy pass.
I suppose if you like movies where you can just shut your brain off and watch pretty people do sex things and giggle and smile, much like The Idea of You, or Anyone But You, sure yeah go for it. But you’re gonna be fucking irked if you look at things from a critical or feminist lens.
So in balancing the desire to watch something casual and cutesey versus wanting a more logical female journey, I rate We Live In Time
GOOD
I saw We Live In Time on HBO before it expired, but I’m sure you can find it elsewhere if you’re committed.
Leave a Reply