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I was not a fan of Florence Pugh. Frankly, I thought of her like many of those trendy Hollywood actrices that are too cool to be real and that aren't really talented. It also didn't help that most of Florence's performances happen to be of characters I hate, like Amy in Little Women or Yelena in Black Widow, mostly the first one (I am a Jo not an Amy). I did enjoy her in this movie and my love for Andrew Garfield just grew bigger.
I went to see this movie with my husband, which is a rarity these days since we are both busy and are you usually taking care of the girls so the other one can enjoy some grown-up time. He was very confused with his movie because it doesn't follow a chronological sequence. It starts with Florence's character running on the British countryside cooking something for her partner and then it goes to a completely different place. I enjoy that you get to see glimpses of their lives at various points in the relationship. I was mortified by the birth scene but it was equally moving and funny, which is hard to achieve with pushing a baby out of your body.
This movie touches in key elements on what a healthy modern relationship should look like:
1. We should put the cards on the table to make our potential partner aware of our expectations: career and family wise.
2. We should support our partner to do with they love, to be successful in what they love, without guilt.
3. We should put our family first, when the going gets tough.
I found both characters very sincere and lovable. Andrew always has a way to show male vulnerability in a beautiful way. Men always talk about women wanting alpha males not betas. I disagree, that is a very binary way of looking at things. I think the man of this generation, the ones becoming husbands and fathers right now understand that women are looking for supportive partners, good fathers, people that allow your true self to shine, and not dim their light.
I found a couple of scenes quite heartbreaking (spoiler coming); like when Florence's character tries to make her hair-shaving-due-to-chemo fun for her daughter so she is not afraid or when Andrew's character has to throw away their wedding invitation in order to attend the food competition. I found those very real, we as parents don't want to scare our children, we want to be able to support our partners, even when we are mad at them, we want to leave something behind so the world can remember us, that is very valid.
When the movie ended I thought, if she would have removed her ovaries on the first cancer appearance she probably wouldn't have died so young, but then, she wouldn't have been a mother, probably something that this woman thought about or maybe she didn't, but then I thought, if given the choice I would probably would have done the exact same thing, because my life wasn't complete until I became a mother.
I would say this would fall under the "it will be part of my collection" but I don't think I can rewatch a lot, because it is sad, usually movies in my collection (the ones I can watch 1000 times) have a happy ending, a very obvious in-your-face happy ending. But I recommend you watch it, at least once. It is one of those that leaves you thinking.
