The Time Traveller’s Wife – 2009

It’s hard to do something different with Romance these days, girl meets boy or vice versa, boy falls in love with girl or vice versa. So everynow and then something needs to be a little different in order to give it a unique spin.

Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore had Ghost, Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves, The Lake House so The Time Travellers Wife had to go one step further.

Special collections librarian Henry DeTamble (Eric Bana) has a genetic anomaly that allows him to travel in time; however, he is not able to control the moment or the destiny of his voyages.

The film is based on the novel by Audrey Niffenegger, and not having read the book it is hard to say whether or not the film did it justice. That said, it is elegantly shot and Bana and fellow on screen love interest Clare (Rachel McAdams) seem perfectly sutited to their roles.

Bana is a likeable actor and has been portrayed in some pretty powerful films including Chopper, Black Hawk Down and Munich here his softer side comes out. A man who only has the love for one woman but is unable to control his ability in disappearing, he is desperate to find a cure and won’t let anything stand in his way.

The time travelling plot in itself is rather stupid, Henry is unable to control when he goes but always seems to pop up in similar places both in the past and the future, and always naked? In the beginning he is seen visiting his wife Clare on more than one occasion as a child and as she grows older.

Certainly its a better directed film than the Butterfly Effect in which Ashton Kutcher time travelled more times than a gas meter reader pops into your house. The Time Traveller’s Wife is a film with nagging questions and at times head scratching conclusions but this is a time travelling love story of beauty, and for that its worth a watch.

View the trailer

Stars: Eric Bana, Rachel McAdams, Ron Livingston, Arliss Howard

Rating: (3/5)

Visit the IMBd page for The Time Traveller’s Wife

Please feel free to leave a comment about this film, I would love to know what you think and I will do my best to respond!