Tobias & Almut's Relationship In We Live In Time In Chronological Order

Includes SPOILERS for We Live in Time.

We Live in Time explores the pivotal moments in the romantic relationship between Almut and Tobias, but the story is told out of chronological order. Played by Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield in We Live in Time's cast, Almut and Tobias are two people who meet in an unlikely incident, leading to years filled with love and loss. The movie constantly jumps between three separate timelines of their lives: their first meeting, the birth of their child, and Almut's fateful battle with cancer.

We Live in Time's ending sees Almut sadly passing away, leaving Tobias and their daughter, Ella, behind. While there's sorrow in her premature death, the point of the movie isn't to express sadness. We Live in Time is a tearjerker, but that's because it delivers a bitter-sweet time capsule of the profound effect two individuals can have on each other's lives. It's told out of chronological order for a reason, demonstrating the impact of these moments despite time being the one thing neither character can control.

Almut Hits Tobias With Her Car

Almut & Tobias Have A Chance Meeting

Almut and Tobias' meeting seems fated, with Tobias stuck in a hotel room trying to finalize divorce papers when his pen runs out of ink. He's forced to leave his hotel and traverse the roads in a bathrobe, looking for a store to purchase some pens from, before he's hit by a car on his way back.

Tobias wakes up in the hospital to find Almut waiting for him, and the two go to a diner to share a meal. There, Almut tells Tobias that she's an up-and-coming chef and invites him to dine at her new restaurant when it opens.

Almut & Tobias Begin Their Relationship

Almut & Tobias Spend Their First Night & Day Together

Weeks later, Tobias meets Almut at her restaurant, where there's some awkwardness over his table being set for two. When Almut questions it, Tobias reveals that he's recently divorced. The movie instantly cuts to them returning to Almut's apartment, where they have sex for the first time. They spend the night and the next day together, and chemistry immediately forms, resulting in a fast-paced start to their relationship.

Tobias Argues With Almut Over Childbirth

Tobias Gets Ahead Of Himself With A Touchy Subject

Sometime later, Tobias realizes he's falling in love with Almut, but her statement on their first day together has made him nervous. Almut expressed that she wasn't the type of woman who'd like to have children, and Tobias believes that he is.

He approaches her on the matter, thinking that this issue may grow a further wedge between them in the future, which he's concerned about because he's falling in love. She responds with anger, telling Tobias he's getting way ahead of himself. Almut and Tobias spend some time apart before he goes to apologize, and they make amends.

Almut Finds Out She Has Cancer For The First Time

Almut Makes A Pivotal Decision That Will Allow Her To Have Children

Some time into their relationship, Almut discovers for the first time that she has ovarian cancer. She and Tobias examine her options, and she explains that her doctor advised her to have a hysterectomy to entirely prevent the cancer from worsening.

Due to her growing relationship with Tobias, the decision has become more complicated for Almut, as she now considers the possibility that she'd like to have a child with him. Though he respects her decision, Almut chooses an alternate route that won't remove her ability to get pregnant. Sadly, this leads to the cancer returning later.

Almut & Tobias Have Their Daughter Ella

Almut Gives Birth To Ella In A Gas Station Bathroom

Following Almut's initial recovery, she and Tobias have some of the happiest years of their life. At first, they struggle to conceive a child but eventually succeed in having their daughter, Ella. Due to traffic in a tunnel, Almut is forced to have Ella in the bathroom of a gas station, where Tobias and the store's employees help her through the process, resulting in a successful birth.

Almut Finds Out Her Cancer Has Returned

Almut Decides She Wants To Live Her Final Months To The Fullest

Years later, Almut experiences some pain while working at her restaurant, realizing her cancer has returned. She and Tobias meet with a doctor to discuss options, which would include months of chemotherapy, surgery, and another series of subsequent treatments. At this point, Almut surrenders to the possibility of her passing and decides that she'd rather spend the remaining days of her life living to the fullest rather than subject herself to grueling treatment for a chance at recovery.

Almut Agrees To Participate In The Bocuse d'Or & Practices In Secret

Almut Chooses A Cooking Competition Over Her Recovery

After learning of her cancer, Almut agrees to participate in the Bocuse d'Or, a culinary competition, but keeps this from Tobias. She realizes that Tobias would want her to spend her time resting and recovering, but the competition is hugely important to her. She brings Jade from her restaurant on as her commis chef and begins practicing, struggling through the pain of her cancer and trying to push through. This eventually leads to a day where she forgets to pick up Ella from school.

Tobias Finally Proposes To Almut

Almut & Tobias Decide To Get Married, But Plans Fall Through

Realizing that they may not have much time left together, Tobias finally proposes to Almut. Previously, he had subscribed to his father's belief that marriage didn't add anything to an already solidified partnership, but for the purpose of their final days, he invites her to celebrate their love with a ceremony.

Unfortunately, the wedding date lines up with the Bocuse d'Or, and Almut eventually chooses the latter, wanting to leave behind an accomplishment for her loved ones to remember her by. Tobias is hurt at first but accepts her feelings and cancels the wedding.

Almut Participates In The Bocuse d'Or

Almut Has One Final Success In Her Life

Despite everything, Almut works tirelessly to reach the Bocuse d'Or, competing until the end. Earlier in the film, Almut shares her story about being a figure skater, explaining how much she loved the competition. Far more so than Tobias, Almut is a person who thrives on personal goals, and succeeding in the Bocuse d'Or provides her with a long-needed individual satisfaction for her life. She then returns to the ice rink, where she says goodbye to Tobias and Ella before skating off on her own, symbolizing her death.

Tobias Teaches Their Daughter About Grief After Almut's Death

Tobias, Ella, & Their New Dog Live On Without Almut

Though We Live in Time never explicitly shows Almut's fate, it's implied she passes away sometime before the end of the film. Importantly, Tobias and Ella are accompanied by a dog, which Almut had previously joked would be a good way for Ella to cope with the loss of her mother, suggesting that the loss of a pet would prepare a child for loss. But rather than seeing the dog pass away, Tobias seems to have gotten the dog as a new companion for his daughter. The final scene sees Tobias teaching Ella to make eggs how Almut used to.

Other Movies With Relationships Told Out Of Chronological Order

While non-linear storytelling in movies is nothing new, it is somewhat novel to see in a romance movie like We Live in Time. However, there are a number of other films in the genre that have similarly jumped around in time to tell the story of a romantic relationship at different stages in its journey. While We Live in Time uses the approach to make a bittersweet love story, Blue Valentine does so to create just an emotionally devastating and raw look at how a loving relationship can fall apart over time.

Similarly, (500) Days of Summer's timeline is used to showcase how the perception of a relationship can change over time. Audiences are introduced to a romance between Tom and Summer, seeing it blossom but knowing it doesn't last. The movie plays on the audience's expectations, assuming one person is to blame for the relationship ending but demonstrating that it is far more complex than that.

There are also romance movies that approach the actual premise by playing around with time. The Time Traveler's Wife examines a long romance between a man and a woman with the man unwillingly jumping through time, meaning that they are reuniting at various stages of her life as she attempts to reconcile with what this means for their love story. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind focuses on a man wiping his ex from his memory with the mind-bending movie jumping across various memories they share together as she is scrubbed from his mind.

Regardless of how far these movies go with playing around with their respective timelines, these stories along with We Live in Time show how effective a film romance can be regardless of whether the audience is watching it from beginning to end or something more complicated.