“Love in the Present” with Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield, a film about cancer like no other

MOVIE THEATER – Love in the presentand in the past and the future. The dramatic comedy starring Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield is released in theaters this Wednesday, January 1, a film to start the year with tears (but not only that). The actors play Almut and Tobias, two British people who meet by accident, fall in love and start a family. But there is a dark side to this beautiful romance: Almut has ovarian cancer.

The film directed by John Crowley (Boy A, Brookyln) and written by playwright Nick Payne uses all the codes of love stories against a backdrop of cancer, seen and reviewed in the cinema. But unlike many films of this genre (The Fault in Our Stars, The time of an autumn)he never falls into pathos.

Despite the seriousness of the subject, Love in the present above all makes you want to fall in love and build a life together. Because more than a film about cancer, it is a film about the couple, carried by the talent and incredible alchemy of Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield.

The originality of the film is largely due to its non-linear construction. Love in the present constantly goes back and forth between three eras: that of the meeting between Almut and Tobias and the beginning of their story, the one where Almut discovers that she has ovarian cancer then becomes pregnant after her remission, and finally, the one where their daughter is about three years old and Almut's cancer returns.

Love in the present is sad, but not only

Even if these constant back and forths can disorient the viewer – the chronology is never clarified on the screen – they allow us to avoid the pitfall of the rosy story which suddenly turns into melodrama. Almut's medical condition does not come as a surprise, after an hour of film. From the first minutes, we learn of the recurrence of his cancer at an advanced stage, even before seeing the scene of the initial diagnosis.

There are of course emotionally charged moments that are sure to make some viewers reach for their tissues. The director does not sugarcoat the ordeals that the family faces with the illness, and in particular shows all the side effects of chemotherapy: hair loss of course, but also vomiting, nosebleeds and bruises. caused by repeated infusions.

More Love in the present contains just as many, if not more, scenes that make you smile, laugh and sometimes blush, of a couple that we see evolve over the years. His characters do not lack humor (often grating) and are self-deprecating. For a little less than two hours, we alternate between laughter and tears, sometimes both at the same time.

Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield, realistic couple

If we are so attached to Almut and Tobias, it is mainly thanks to the realism of their love story. From awkward moments during first dates to couples' arguments, the film takes a closer look at all the important stages of the couple's life.

Brilliantly interpreted, the characters of Love in the present sound true and current, even if the features are sometimes a little forced. Almut is an ambitious chef, openly bisexual, very direct, and who does not fit into the classic pattern of marriage and children. More emotional, Tobias is the polar opposite of the clichéd male characters of romantic comedies. He is on edge because he is newly divorced, his career matters little to him, his dream is to become a father. In the following eras, we constantly see him doing the dishes and then taking care of their daughter, more than his partner.

Like Almut, the film is not limited to his cancer. The character played by Florence Pugh is not more sanctified because she is sick, a fault often present in films about cancer. The feature film also addresses the thorny subject of the desire for a child not always shared, the difficulty of conceiving, the harsh reality of childbirth but also the desire to achieve something other than through parenthood. Love in the present is a moving dive into the life of a couple, in happiness as well as in trials, and in health as well as in illness.

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