The Time Traveler's Wife

Based on a best-selling novel by Audrey Niffenegger, The Time Traveler's Wife features a romantic relationship that transcends chronology: Henry (a sensitive and frequently nude Eric Bana) is cursed with a rare genetic condition that causes him to involuntarily jump backwards and forwards in time.

This implausible disorder seems designed to frustrate Clare (Rachel McAdams), the man's hapless paramour, who tries to build a normal life with him -- even a family. (She miscarries, but not quite: the baby's a time-traveler, too.)

It's a clever conceit: a metaphor for schedule-balancing act that (chronologically normal) couples face, due to commitments in real life. It manages to indict absent partners; I suspect more than a few men - of the kind who occasionally miss dinners at home - will be guilt-tripped through this movie.

The difficulty a non-linear love affair represents also lets The Time Traveler's Wife effectively deliver age-old sappy-love-story axioms: distance makes the heart grow fonder; love will conquer all. Never mind that us normal folk, placed in the same situation, would throw in the towel quite quickly. The point of watching the emotional super-people of romantic film, after all, is to allow us to bring out the Kleenex and dream.

Cast Eric Bana Rachel McAdams Director Robert Schwentke Runtime 107 mins Opens 28 October

Text Angelene Tang