Based on the novel of the same name, The Time Traveler’s Wife explores a sometime traditional love story in a very untraditional way. It centes on the lives of two people ‘fated’ to be together, but one is plagued by a (very) rare disease; that he randomly jumps through time, so that their relationship is fundamentally fragmented, heartbreaking and frankly, very, very confusing.

Eric Bana plays Henry, an unshaven and agonised-looking guy who works in a Chicago library. Henry has lived all his life with this strange disorder, meaning he suddenly succumbs to epileptic-type fits during which he will vanish, and then travel backwards or forwards in time or space, usually only for a few hours. Rather than his jumps being totally random, he always ends up back (or forward) at moments that are important to his life. And they all involved one girl, the girl he is destined to marry. On their first meeting, he cowers humorously in bushes on her daddy’s lavish country estate, and begs her to go and get some clothes for him to wear. From meeting this strange man for the first time, the young girl (who will become a womanly Rachel McAdams) decides that this is the man she will marry. They struggle to live lives that are so fragmented, and Henry struggles to keep the secrets of the future to himself, not wanting to hurt his wife with the knowledge of what is to come. Creepy? Sort of. Confusing? Very. But interesting? Kind of.

This is really a story about what we are prepared to sacrifice for the ones we love, how there is no escaping our fate and the importance of fighting tooth and nail for what we feel we need. The strong performances from the two leads prevent this from becoming too emotionally soupy, but ultimately The Time Traveler’s Wife suffers from being a little difficult to untangle.

Special Features

Love beyond Words – Making of The Time Traveler’s Wife