Andrew Garfield embraces grief in 'We Live in Time'

Tearjerker film finds beauty in the ordinary

In a world teeming with cynicism and detachment, We Live in Time's unashamed sentimentality cuts a curious figure. That it is directed by John Crowley, whose previous work (Brooklyn, The Goldfinch) often leans into the bittersweet, only adds to the intrigue. At its London premiere, audience reactions ranged from quiet sniffles to openly cathartic sobbing.

"I think that's a shame," says leading actor Andrew Garfield in an interview with Variety. "That someone would feel that they had to apologise. I think that speaks to a cultural thing that we have, particularly in the UK, where outward expressions of emotion are deemed somehow inappropriate or shameful."

We Live in Time tells the story of Almut (Florence Pugh), a rising-star chef, receiving a late-stage cancer diagnosis. From there, the film dives into a non-linear portrayal of her relationship with Tobias (Garfield), a cereal marketing executive. Their lives unfold through a series of vignettes: a meet-cute car crash, early courtship, the chaotic birth of their daughter in a service station bathroom.

To some, this overt emotionality might seem manipulative. To others, it feels like a raw, unvarnished embrace of life's highs and lows. Garfield himself sees value in the openness. "One of the things I love about this film is that it wears its heart on its sleeve," he says. "It honours the expressed emotional life of two people that could be any of us. I love that this woman had a huge response."

Agreeing with Garfield, Crowley reflects on the intensity of audience reactions. "It does hit a section of our audience very hard," he says. "They bring their own life experience and sadness to it. Maybe it's just embarrassment, that much naked emotion in a group. I've had people say to me: 'I can't wait to watch it again on my own and have an ugly cry.' It's quite touching."

Garfield's portrayal carries the weight of personal history. Five years ago, during the filming of The Eyes of Tammy Faye and just before Tick, Tick… Boom!, the actor lost his mother, Lynn, to cancer. Their bond had been particularly close, with Lynn even sewing her son a Spider-Man costume when he was three—a moment of prescience for the actor who would later don the official suit.

For Garfield, We Live in Time became a means of processing that loss. "It was very healing," he says. "It was like putting form to something that is so impossible to comprehend: a soul going through love and loss."