Garfield brings cardboard cut-out of Pugh to red carpet
If you were to describe Florence Pugh as a two-dimensional actress, she might understandably feel quite insulted.
Her co-star Andrew Garfield, however, has taken a more literal approach, bringing a cardboard cut-out of her along with him to a premiere she was unable to attend.
While most movies launching at the London Film Festival in the last week or so have had their A-list stars in attendance, Garfield had to fly solo on Thursday evening as Pugh is currently away shooting another movie.
The British actress portrays a young chef who is diagnosed with cancer in We Live In Time, while Garfield plays her partner and the father of the couple’s three-year-old daughter.
The movie was shot last spring, and was the reason for Pugh’s shaved head at the 2023 Met Gala, a look which made headlines in the fashion press at the time.
Despite its heavy subject matter, We Live In Time has been praised as “life-affirming”, although other critics have described it as “positively twee”.
Garfield plays Tobias, a Weetabix marketing executive who is struggling with a divorce from his first wife when he is run over by Pugh’s character Almut.
He wakes up in hospital with an apologetic Almut by his side. The pair ultimately fall in love, but their plans for the future are thrown into doubt when the cancer Almut thought she was in remission from returns.
The film sees Garfield reunite with director John Crowley, 17 years after the release of their previous collaboration Boy A – one of Garfield’s earliest breakthrough roles.
Garfield walked the red carpet at London’s Royal Festival Hall on Thursday, alongside his cardboard co-star.
The film is, in many ways, an enjoyable watch, with real chemistry between Garfield and Pugh and interesting subplots such as Almut’s participation in an international chef championship. But the movie has received mixed reviews since its premiere in Toronto last month.
The Hollywood Reporter’s David Rooney credited Crowley with directing the film with a “tender yet truthful touch”, adding: “Seldom has such an unflinchingly honest take on mortality felt so transcendently life-affirming.”
Other critics have been far less positive, however, with Mashable’s Kirsty Puchko describing it as “the biggest cinema disappointment of the year”.
“While peppered with sex scenes and adoring close-ups, this is not a hot or even sweaty embrace of lust and love, but a soggy handshake of a film that underwhelms despite its star power,” she said.
“We Live In Time’s worst sin is making its thin characters so damn boring,” added Brianna Zigler of the AV Club.
“Everything about Tobias and Almut is so easy and sanitised, so positively twee and precious, that they are borderline unbearable to watch.”
Sara Michelle Fetters of MovieFreak gave a warmer reception, writing: “Even if some of the dramatic pieces fail to connect, Garfield and Pugh’s performances are so stirringly excellent that they make the film matter even with its frustrating shortcomings.”
And there was a four-star review from the Guardian’s Benjamin Lee, who said: “It’s such a joy to watch two such assured and natural performers allowed the room to exercise both movie star and actor muscles as well as showcase their ease with both comedy and drama.
“Their softer, funnier and sexier scenes are more effective than most romantic comedies we’ve seen for a long while but then their harder, weightier conflicts are just as effective.”
One emotional scene sees Tobias and their daughter help to shave Almut’s head – which was Pugh’s real-life hair.
“For any actor taking a role like this, it is completely important that you see her head and we see her shaving it – it was just always a no-brainer,” Pugh told British Vogue recently. “You have the honour of doing something to yourself that is totally in support of the character.”
Garfield admitted he was nervous. “What if I somehow destroyed the head of one of the best actors of her generation?” he joked. “It was terrifying, but ultimately it was a very beautiful, intimate scene to shoot and thank God she has such a nicely shaped melon.”
Pugh added that she was inspired by her character’s desire to live life to the full. “I was at the right age for this movie to land,” the 28-year-old said.
“I was going through a lot of weird stuff with relationships last year and I think part of the story is to not be passive, is not to let things wash over you. I want to go and find love and I want to have babies.”
Pugh has previously starred in films such as Little Women, Midsommar, Don’t Worry Darling, Oppenheimer, Black Widow and Dune: Part Two.
Garfield’s previous screen credits include The Social Network, Hacksaw Ridge, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, the Spider-Man franchise and Tick Tick… Boom!
More from the London Film Festival:
