Florence Pugh, Andrew Garfield elevator film

The film touches on some tropes, such as a crazy bit where they ride on a carousel and some romantic comedy where Tobias and the heavily pregnant Almut struggle to get out of their parking lot to get to the hospital and their baby to get. (It actually leads to one of the film’s stronger sequences, in which the couple is forced to give birth to their child in a gas station toilet in a tornado of heartwarming and hilarious chaos.) Many of the emotional stakes feel earned because they aren’t are real, especially since Almut and Tobias have to weigh up children and marriage at the beginning of their relationship and later have to make important medical decisions.

“We Live in Time” successfully flips tired stereotypes and depicts a modern couple where the woman is the one who is competitive and whose job is at the top of her priority list, and the man is the devoted support system. Still, the film dwells so much on Almut – even giving her a backstory as a figure skater – that Tobias is a character who lacks development.