If you were to describe Florence Pugh as a two-dimensional actress, she might understandably feel quite offended.

However, her co-star Andrew Garfield has taken a more literal approach by bringing a cardboard cutout of her to a premiere she couldn’t attend.

While most of the films launched at the London Film Festival last week had their A-stars in attendance, Garfield had to fly solo on Thursday evening as Pugh is currently away shooting another film.

The British actress plays a young chef who is diagnosed with cancer in We Live In Time, while Garfield plays her partner and the father of the couple’s three-year-old daughter.

The film was shot last spring and was the reason for Pugh’s shaved head at the 2023 Met Gala, a look that made headlines in the fashion press at the time.

Despite the heavy subject matter, We Live In Time has been praised as “life-affirming”, although other critics have described it as “positively twee”.

Garfield plays Tobias, a Weetabix marketing executive who is struggling with a divorce from his first wife when he is run over by Pugh’s character Almut.

He wakes up in the hospital with an apologetic Almut by his side. The pair eventually fall in love, but their plans for the future are thrown into doubt when Almut’s cancer thought she was in remission from returning.

The film reunites Garfield with director John Crowley, 17 years after the release of their previous collaboration Boy A – one of Garfield’s first breakout roles.

Garfield walked the red carpet at the Royal Festival Hall in London on Thursday, alongside his cardboard co-star.

The film is a joy to watch in many ways, with real chemistry between Garfield and Pugh and interesting subplots such as Almut’s participation in an international chef championship. But the film has received mixed reviews since its premiere in Toronto last month.

David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter is credited Crowley credited directing the film with a “tender yet truthful touch”, adding: “Rarely has such an unflinchingly honest look at mortality felt so extraordinarily life-affirming.”

Other critics, however, are much less positive: with Mashable’s Kirsty Puchko describing it as “the biggest cinema disappointment of the year”.

“Though peppered with sex scenes and admiring close-ups, this is not a hot or even sweaty embrace of lust and love, but a sodden handshake of a film that is disappointing despite its star power,” she said.

“We Live In Time’s worst sin is that its thin characters are so damn boring,” added AV Club’s Brianna Zigler.

“Everything about Tobias and Almut is so easy and clean, so positive and precious, that it’s almost unbearable to watch.”

Sara Michelle Fetters from MovieFreak received a warmer reception, writing: “Even if some of the dramatic pieces fail to connect, Garfield and Pugh’s performances are so grippingly excellent that they make the film matter, even with its frustrating shortcomings.”

And there was a four-star review from Benjamin Lee of the Guardian, who said: “It is such a pleasure to see two such confident and natural performers giving space to flex the muscles of both movie stars and actors and showing their ease in both comedy and drama.

“Their softer, funnier and sexier scenes are more effective than most romantic comedies we’ve seen in a while, but their harder, heavier conflicts are just as effective.”

In an emotional scene, Tobias and their daughter help shave Almut’s head – Pugh’s real hair.

“For any actor who takes on a role like this, it’s really important that you see her head and that we see her shave it. It was just always a no-brainer,” Pugh recently told British Vogue. “You have the honor of doing something to yourself that is completely in support of the character.”

Garfield admitted he was nervous. “What if I somehow destroyed the head of one of the best actors of her generation?” he joked. “It was terrifying, but in the end it was a really beautiful, intimate scene to film and thank God she has such a beautifully shaped melon. “

Pugh added that she was inspired by her character’s desire to live life to the fullest. “I was at the right age for this movie to land,” the 28-year-old said.

“I went through a lot of weird things with relationships last year and I think part of the story is not to be passive, not to let things get to you. I want to find love and I want to have children.”

Pugh previously starred in films such as Little Women, Midsommar, Don’t Worry Darling, Oppenheimer, Black Widow and Dune: Part Two.

Garfield’s previous screen credits include The Social Network, Hacksaw Ridge, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, the Spider-Man franchise and Tick Tick… Boom!

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