WE LIVE IN TIME

*CUT TO THE CHASE*

NOTE: This spoiler was submitted by Jeremy

*The film jumps back and forth in time, so this will be told in chronological order.

Tobias Durand (Andrew Garfield) works as representative for Weebatix. He is in the process of signing divorce papers but he doesn’t have a working pen. After going to buy new pens and a snack, he drops something in the road and reaches down to get it, only to get struck by a car.

At the hospital, Tobias is met by Almut Bruhl (Florence Pugh), the driver that hit him. After she apologizes, she invites him out for dinner. He tells her about her job, while she says that she is a chef and restaurant owner. She invites Tobias to attend her restaurant for dinner along with his wife, as she notices the ring on his finger, but he doesn’t tell her the truth.

Tobias goes to the dinner by himself and is quickly astonished by a small sample of food that Almut has prepared for him. She approaches him, and he admits that he is in the process of a divorce. After the dinner, the two go back to Almut’s place to have sex. In the morning, Tobias goes through her stuff and sees that Almut was in a previous relationship with a woman named Adrienne Duvall (Marama Corlett). Almut states that while they did love each other, Adrienne wanted to start a family and Almut did not feel the same. Similarly, Tobias’s wife chose a new job in Sweden over starting a family.

Tobias and Almut begin dating and living with each other. They have dinner with Tobias’s father, plus Almut’s mother, father, and brothers. Tobias learns that Almut was a figure skater, something that she was not too keen on him finding out. She tells Tobias about her past doing it and how it made her happy.

The two spend the next few months in a relationship that quickly grows into something more. However, when Tobias brings up the topic of starting a family, he admits to Almut that he would like to start one with her because he feels that he is falling in love with her. She remains firm in her decision and angrily tells him no.

Not long after, Tobias finds Almut at a baby shower. He confronts her in front of her friends and admits that he was pushing it with the proposal of starting a family, but he also lets Almut know he didn’t like the way she responded to him. He once again tells her he loves her, and they make up.

While cooking, Almut starts to get a pain in her midsection. After a diagnosis, Almut tells Tobias that she has ovarian cancer, with her gynecologist recommending that she get a hysterectomy to prevent the cancer from getting worse. Tobias respects her decision, and Almut undergoes treatment until the cancer is in remission. Later on, Almut decides that she also would like to start a family with Tobias. The two make several attempts to conceive, until they finally get a positive result and celebrate.

Tobias supports Almut all throughout her pregnancy. When she is at nine months, the two go to a petrol station for snacks, until Almut starts to feel unwell. She goes into the bathroom and accidentally locks herself inside, telling Tobias that she is ready to give birth. With help from employees Sanjaya (Nikhil Parmar) and Jane (Kerry Godliman), along with a doctor on the phone, Almut successfully gives birth to a healthy baby girl that she and Tobias name Ella.

Years later, Almut is a head chef in a bigger restaurant than where she used to work. She has taken on a younger sous chef, Jade (Lee Braithwaite) as an apprentice. During work, she feels another great pain in her waist. Tobias takes her to the hospital, where they learn that Almut’s cancer has advanced to stage 3, and she needs to begin chemotherapy immediately since the tumor is too large to operate on. Tobias and Almut discuss how to break the news to Ella (Grace Delaney), contemplating getting a dog to gently ease her into the news. Almut suggests that instead of jumping into the chemo, she and Tobias spend “six to eight” months living life to the fullest instead of anticipating death.

Tobias and Almut take Ella to a restaurant to break the news to her. Before they can do so, the waiter tries to be playful with Ella until her parents angrily tell him it’s not a good time. They give Ella the news, though she doesn’t seem to understand what will happen to her mother. A while later, Tobias finally proposes marriage to Almut, and she accepts. With help from Ella, they shave Almut’s head to prep her for chemo.

Almut’s colleague, Simon Maxson (Adam James), invites her to compete in the Bocuse d’Or, a highly prestigious chef championship. Almut asks Jade to join her as her partner. Almut and Jade join Simon in training for the competition, but her training dates also coincide with her treatment, which she skips. It gets to a point where Almut gets sick during one of the training sessions, and Jade has to ask her if she is well enough to keep going, and Almut insists that she is.

Tobias later learns about the Bocuse d’Or and Almut’s part in it. When he finds out that the date of the competition is the same date of their wedding, he becomes upset at Almut for skipping treatments and putting her career over her family. Almut fires back that she doesn’t simply want to be remembered as “someone’s dead mum” and wants to leave something for Ella to remember her by when she’s gone. Tobias goes outside to throw the trash and tearfully discards their wedding invitations.

On the day of the Bocuse d’Or, Tobias and Ella show up to support Almut. She puts her best effort into it, but near the end of the final round, she starts to get weak and falter. Almut lets Jade take over to prep their dish, and they are able to finish in time. After the competition is over, Almut walks into the audience to hug Ella and kiss Tobias. Afterwards, they go to an ice skating rink together, where Almut skates with Ella for the first (and last) time.

Almut eventually passes away. Tobias and Ella return from her funeral and are seen with a new dog. Tobias starts to prepare a meal for Ella and shows her how to crack an egg on a flat surface, like Almut earlier showed him. He appears sad for a moment as he remembers her, but goes back to smiling as he cooks with Ella.

CTTC

Taking place across a decade, up-and-coming chef Almut begins a relationship with recent divorcee Tobias after she accidentally hits him with her car. They quickly fall in love, and while Almut initially doesn't want to start a family, she decides to have a kid with Tobias, and they end up having a girl named Ella.

Almut is diagnosed with ovarian cancer. While it goes into remission before she and Tobias conceived Ella, it eventually returns and advances to stage 3. Instead of undergoing chemotherapy, Almut does training for the Bocuse d'Or chef competition, while her health deteriorates. Tobias is angry with her for putting her career over her family, but Almut tells him that she wants Ella to remember her with something instead of just watching her get sick and die. This forces Tobias to cancel his and Almut's wedding.

Tobias and Ella support Almut during her competition. Afterwards, they go ice skating since Almut used to figure skate. Almut eventually passes away, but Tobias continues to raise Ella and does his best to preserve Almut's memory.