It’s such a relief when a film is more than it seems. With an eminently forgettable title, so forgettable that I have to keep searching for Florence Pugh and then looking at her filmography to remember what it is called, the trailer for this makes it feel like you’re being shown the whole story.

It feels like an epic saga, the story of a couple meeting, falling in love, having a family, dealing with illness. I went into it thinking it might be a bit of a weepy or a bit sentimental but director John Crowley, who also made Brooklyn, manages to shuffle all the components into a compelling whole.

It is one of those films where the timeline is muddled, and this can be precarious as it can lose you in the narrative and also seem like a gimmick. But on reflecting, I feel like what we are seeing is the unchronological persistence of memory. Our young couple are Almut (Florence Pugh) and Tobias (John Garfield). She is vibrant, nuggety, a successful chef on the brink of owning her own restaurant. He feels a little lost, dealing with a divorce and living with his father, at a crossroads.

We see the spark, we see them falter and their joy and moments of doubt. The fact that Almut is ill is not hidden, we bounce backwards and forwards between her treatment and the start of their relationship and the birth of their daughter Ella (Grace Delaney). It stops us thinking about trajectories and endings and immerses us in the moments. There is some beautiful drama as Almut chases a dream of career success and Crowley handles this balance of work and motherhood and how we are remembered in a way that seems real and nuanced.

It’s not really a weepy except for some beautiful moments toward the end. It left me feeling calm and sad and appreciative.