Aahana Swrup
‘We Live in Time’ is a romance drama film that invites the viewers to become a spectacle of the spirited life a couple builds together in the face of time’s crests and falls. Almut is a promising chef about to open her restaurant, and Tobias is the unfortunate divorcee whose life she quite literally crashes into. Despite their eccentric meeting, the two become permanent fixtures in each other’s orbit as their romance kindles, urging them to start a life together. However, a tragic discovery threatens the longevity of this life, pushing Almut and Tobias to move past their expectations and enjoy the time they have with each other for what it is.
As the narrative follows this zestful voyage through Tobias and Almut’s life, it takes a unique non-chronological approach, whimsically rifling through the pages of the couple’s ups and downs. In doing so, it creates a rich and varied tapestry that tells an unconventional but beautiful love story. SPOILERS AHEAD!
We Live in Time Plot Synopsis
Things are not going well for Tobias Durand, an employee at Weetabix. Ever since his marriage with Helen unraveled, he’s been living in his father’s attic, perpetually down in the dumps. However, life shocks him out of his passivity when a manic late-night run to the grocery store lands him in front of Almut Brühl’s car. Even though the accident isn’t minor in any sense, the two remain friendly after the latter accompanies her unintentional victim to the hospital. As the two eventually end up in a diner, Tobias learns that Almut is opening her Anglo-Bavarian cuisine restaurant soon.
Weeks later, once Tobias is recovered and freshly divorced, he shows up at Almut’s restaurant. From there, it’s only a matter of time before the two fall into each other. As their relationship grows, the two face many beautiful and some ugly moments together. From pre-mature arguments about kids—something Tobias wants but Almut is unsure about—to endearing apologies and family dinners, the couple goes through it all. However, their joy comes to a halt when a random stomachache and a visit to the hospital reveal that Almut has ovarian cancer.
Even though a total hysterectomy offers better odds, Almut doesn’t want to close the door entirely on the possibility of having biological kids. She may have been initially unsure, but she wants the possibility of starting a family with Tobias in the future. Consequently, she undergoes treatment for a partial hysterectomy and emerges on the other side with her cancer in remission. Months—or even years—in the aftermath, the couple finally decide to try for children. Once pregnant, she and Tobias dedicate themselves to observing the pregnancy to the best of their abilities to remain prepared for any and all outcomes.
Still, life’s chaos finds a way for Almut to end up undergoing labor in a gas station washroom. Even so, everything goes well, and the couple welcomes their daughter, Ella, into the world. The family evolves over the next three years, trading in a city apartment for a farm-side cottage as Almut’s restaurant grows to prominence. However, soon enough, Almut feels another pain spike. Consequently, a visit to the doctor reveals the return of her cancer. Since the cancer has returned worse than before, Almut faces a future of chemotherapy and surgery without any definitive promise of recovery.
We Live in Time Ending: Do Almut and Tobias Get Married?
In the face of her cancer’s return, Almut is initially hesitant to put herself through the harrowing process of medical treatment that awaits her. She has already lived through chemotherapy and emerged on the other side, expecting a healthy life to come. For the same reason, she’s unbalanced when she’s confronted with another promised period of misery, treating a disease that will likely snuff out her light. Thus, she’s initially hesitant to proceed with the doctor’s suggested treatment plan.
As Almut sees it, at that moment, if she only has a few months left to live, she doesn’t want them to be defined by a gruesome uphill battle. She wants to live her life to the fullest as long as she can. Tobias is initially taken aback when she shares the same line of thought with him. Understandably, he wants to do everything he can to secure even the slightest chance of keeping Almut in her life. Still, he recognizes that it’s her choice that matters the most in that moment. Therefore, they decide to face the illness for what it is and have a complicated but necessary talk with Ella about it.
Even though they let their earlier conversation be at the moment, Tobias formulates a response in time. Naturally, when faced with the demand to live life to the fullest, his answer is a candlelit surprise and a handwritten speech that ends with a “Will you marry me?” As they decide to get married, cementing the love they have for each other as partners, Almut also chooses to go through with the cancer treatment, realizing the fight for her life isn’t something she can resist.
Still, Almut yearns to make the most out of the limited time she thinks she has. Thus, when her friend, Chef Simon Maxson, reaches out to her to participate in the prestigious Bocuse d’Or, she takes him up on the offer. Consequently, she begins prepping for the event while undergoing chemotherapy. The taxing effort that the former requires compels her to keep it a secret from Tobias and her doctors. For the same reason, once Tobias discovers her secret, it leads to an explosive fight between the two. Almut wants to leave a legacy behind in her death—something that Ella and the rest of the world can remember her by. She doesn’t want her ending days to be defined by her illness.
On the other hand, Tobias is saddened that his partner would prioritize anything about her health and that the family they have built together can’t be enough of a legacy for her. Even so, an undying love persists between the couple, allowing them to see things as the other does. Still, it’s a heavy revelation when Almut reveals that the European finals for the competition are taking place on the same date they have saved for their wedding. Almut can only participate in one of these events, and ultimately, her aspiration to do something grand with her career wins out.
Almut and Tobias have always loved each other, and she had always believed they didn’t need a party to cement that love and life shared between them. If Almut can only have one thing, she wants it to be the Bocuse d’Or finals—and because Tobias loves her so entirely, he understands the same. Ultimately, the couple cancels their wedding, deciding instead to truly stand together as a unit, in sickness and in health.
Why Does Almut Leave the Competition Before the Results?
Almut’s dedication to the Bocuse d’Or competition remains evident from the start. When Simon initially reaches out, she tells Tobias she will refuse the offer and focus on getting better. Nonetheless, she knows her chances of recovery haven’t increased any better. As such, she decides to go through with the competition without consulting her partner or medical professionals. However, juggling chemotherapy and competition prep remains an inherently difficult task. Even after the truth of the situation comes out in the open, she has to put her best foot forward to prepare for the finals after winning the UK selections.
Nevertheless, as Almut and her sous-chef Jade travel to France for the finals and walk into the competition, they are composed and confident in their preparation. The five hours that follow are tense as the chefs work on their stations to bring their dishes to the table. Meanwhile, Tobias and Ella remain in the stands, cheering their chef on. Even though Almut’s hand shake too badly as she garnishes her dish in the last few minutes, Jade is by her side, offering their assistance. In the end, Almut and Jade complete their dishes in time—a great accomplishment for them both.
However, as the time comes for the competition to be passed onto the judgment stage, Almut makes the decision to walk away from the stadium with her family. This offers a perplexing picture since the chef has risked so much of her health and even canceled her wedding for this event. Nonetheless, she doesn’t see it all the way through. Yet, the same isn’t entirely true. Almut completes the competition in the ways that were crucial to her. All this time, she had been conflicted about her insistence to participate in the competition. She’s scared that it’s a simple cry out against the fear of oblivion. Still, the competition was never truly about leaving a mark.
Almut participates in the Bocuse d’Or competition because, as she’s facing her promised doom, she wants to prove herself one last time. She wants her daughter to have happy memories of her mother, even during an otherwise dark time, and she wants her final act to be an ode to who she really was. A wedding or a retired surrender wouldn’t have been faithful to the rest of Almut’s existence. Thus, she wanted to participate in the competition, create her art, and leave her imprint on the world one last time. However, she isn’t interested in having her efforts judged. In some ways, it becomes reminiscent of her own full life. Almut lives the way she wants to. She makes the choices her heart desires, and now that she is at her untimely finish line, she’s content with her happiness without caring about what others say about it.
Does Almut Die?
Due to the film’s out-of-order recount of Almut’s life, her fate becomes woefully certain and wonderfully ambiguous at different times. She has undergone a battle with cancer before in her life. Still, her second round with it is significantly more dangerous. In some ways, she and others, including Tobias, have already accepted the finality of it. It’s the same reason that they don’t postpone their wedding because a part of them knows they won’t have a chance to plan it again. Even so, Almut and her family are determined to live within the time they are afforded at the moment. For the same reason, they leave the competition prematurely and instead take a detour to the ice-skating rink nearby.
In her teenage years, Almut used to be a competitive figure-skater with a promising career. However, after her father’s health declined, she gave up on the sport since it became a perpetual reminder of him. Yet, now she enters the rink again—this time with her partner and her daughter, to breathe a new meaning into a sport she once loved dearly. It’s a poignant scene of Almut, Tobias, and Ella skating together as a family until the chef skates away to the other side of the rink and waves at the other two. It isn’t an explicit confirmation of the family’s eventual severance. Still, it’s the closest that the story gets to it.
Ultimately, the story begins as it had started, on a farm-side cottage. However, this time, instead of Almut, Tobias, Ella—and a dog, the newest addition to their family—are gathering the eggs from the coop to prepare breakfast. The dog is the biggest clue of Almut’s departure, harking back to her playful suggestion of adopting a pet to help Ella through her mother’s passing. Almut’s absence isn’t addressed, but it’s deeply felt as her family continues her legacy even in the most minute ways possible. The story never explicitly confirms Almut’s death or showcases her family’s grief over her because her story isn’t one of sorrow and misery. Even in the short time she and Tobias got together, they created a beautiful life together.
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