Overview
An up-and-coming chef and a recent divorcée find their lives forever changed when a chance encounter brings them together, in a decade-spanning, deeply moving romance.
This romantic comedy drama from director John Crowley follows the relationship of a couple, played by Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh, over the course of a decade. From their comically chance meet-cute of sorts, to their blossoming relationship, to their disputes over family decisions, to coping with terminal illness, this is a wonderful, tearful, amusing, and poignant look at love and life, made all the more impactful by the use of non-linear storytelling.
Jumping back and forth in time, we start off knowing that Almut (Pugh) has been diagnosed with cancer and that she and Tobias (Garfield) are working out how to cope with it, before we jump back to see how the pair met and who they were at the start of their relationship, before jumping ahead to look at them preparing to bring a child into the world. Whilst this could be somewhat disorientating, instead the deftness in which the story flips around serves the tale well, offering reflection on the passing of time in a unique way by contrasting how a relationship changes us, and redirects our desires and dreams. This isn’t just a film about a relationship, this is a film about time, and how it ticks by in everything we do without us noticing, and sometimes we need to take note and grab hold of a moment before it is gone.
What really makes this film easy to feel for, aside from how beautifully it is shot and edited, is the central performances from Garfield and Pugh. The pair absolutely work well together, with a genuine and honest chemistry on screen that runs from likable charming chat, to powerful emotional moments, to sizzling depth of desire. Garfield inhabits this kind of character so well, and Pugh goes from strength to strength with every project. The pairing of them on screen ensures you care, you root for them to get through any darker moments, and yes, you will have tears welling up.
In lesser hands, and with a more linear structure, this would have simply been the type of melodramatic nonsense that you would see on a Hallmark film. Thankfully, we aren’t in lesser hands, and what we get instead is a beautiful musing on life and love.