Review of The Time Traveler's Wife (2009) by Mikael K — 01 Jun 2013

It's nice to be pleasantly surprised by a movie. I was reminded of this again when I saw Robert Schwentke's romantic science fiction drama "The Time Traveler's Wife," based on a bestselling novel by author Audrey Niffenegger. As much as I love science fiction, romantic movies aren't really my thing. And when science fiction is mixed with a genre that I tend to dislike, I've often found the result particularly off-putting. Also, nothing rings my warning bells more loudly than a romantic bestseller.

But as unlikely as I thought it to be, "The Time Traveler's Wife" actually works. It's a tale of Henry (Eric Bana)- a librarian who makes spontaneous trips in time due to a particularly interesting genetic mutation(...)-, his wife Annette (Michelle Nolden) and their chronologically fractured marriage. Chance visions of upcoming events shape their lives and shade it with a promise of an unavoidable tragedy.

As silly as this all is, Schwentke's ambitious direction and the sincere performances of Nolden and Bana make you believe in what you see. This is smart, genuinely touching cinema that abandons the clichés of the romance genre and utilizes its unique storytelling potential fully. People who like the nonlinearly tragic relationship between River Song and the Doctor in the latest seasons of Doctor Who will appreciate the similar efforts this film makes in charting the character effects of its sci-fi concepts.