The Time Traveler’s Wife asks a simple question: what happens when a man falls in love with a woman who cannot stop moving forward. It answers that question with a movie about a man who cannot stop moving backward. Eric Bana plays Henry DeTamble, a librarian whose body jumps through time without warning, arriving naked in random places. Rachel McAdams plays Clare Abshire, the girl he meets as a child and marries as a grown woman, who must wait for him across decades while he shows up at her door unbidden.
The film, directed by Robert Schwentke and adapted by Bruce Joel Rubin, is based on Audrey Niffenegger’s 2003 novel. It runs 107 minutes and was released on August 14, 2009. It is a tragedy dressed as a romance, and it never quite decides which one it wants to be.
Trailer, via Rotten Tomatoes Classic Trailers.
The Disorder That Runs the Story
Henry’s condition is the engine of the whole film. He travels through time involuntarily, appearing at random moments in his own life and the lives of others. He cannot control when he goes or where he lands. He cannot change events, only observe them. The film spends considerable time establishing this rule, showing Henry arrive at a car accident that kills his mother, then appear again at the same scene moments later to help his younger self.
The setup is elegant. The execution is less so. The film treats Henry’s time travel as a gimmick rather than a character trait. He zips through moments without consequence, and the movie rarely explores what it means to live a life that skips over weddings, funerals, and everyday dinners. Instead, it focuses on the romantic friction between Henry and Clare, who must plan for his sudden arrivals and disappearances.
Clare Waits for Him
Clare is the anchor of the story. She meets Henry as a child, then sees him again as a man in her twenties. She knows she will marry him before she even meets him. The film handles this knowledge poorly. Clare’s crush on Henry as a boy feels staged, and her realization that he is her husband in the future comes across as a plot device rather than a moment of genuine discovery.
The film also leans heavily on the idea that Henry’s time travel is a gift. He buys a winning lottery ticket because he knows the numbers in advance. This is meant to be charming, but it reads as lazy storytelling. It takes a potentially profound premise and uses it to generate easy plot points rather than exploring the emotional cost of living outside of time.
Bana and McAdams Carry the Weight
Eric Bana is the reason the film works at all. He brings a physical presence that suits the character’s chaotic inner life. Rachel McAdams is less successful. Her performance is steady but lacks the urgency the material demands. Their scenes together are often tender, but they lack the weight the material deserves. The film’s central relationship feels constructed rather than lived-in.
A Long Wait Between Scenes
The film was delayed for nearly a year. Production began in September 2007, with an initial release target of fall 2008. The delay was explained by McAdams, who said that additional scenes and reshoots were needed to match the outdoor location to previously filmed footage. Bana also had to regrow his hair after his work on the 2009 film Star Trek.
The reshoots were necessary to make the film work visually, but they left the story with a ragged edge. The film does not explain why some moments are shown in full while others are skipped entirely. Characters appear and disappear without warning, and the story skips over large chunks of time with little fanfare.
The Tragedy That Never Arrives
The Time Traveler’s Wife is advertised as a tragedy, but it never delivers one. The film sets up the idea that Henry’s disorder is a curse, then spends most of its runtime treating it as a quirk. The closest it comes to tragedy is Henry’s disappearance during the wedding, which is resolved with a deus ex machina arrival from a future version of himself.
The film’s ending is a cheat. Henry time-travels away before the ceremony, and an older version of himself steps in to take his place. This solves the problem of the absent groom, but it also undermines the entire premise of the film. If Henry can summon himself to the wedding, why couldn’t he summon himself to any other moment? The film does not answer this question, and it leaves the audience feeling cheated rather than moved.
Where It Falls Short
The Time Traveler’s Wife is a failure of ambition. It has a great idea, a strong cast, and a capable director. What it lacks is a willingness to commit to the emotional truth of its premise. The film is too afraid of its own tragedy to fully embrace it.
The supporting cast is wasted. Arliss Howard as Richard DeTamble, Ron Livingston as Gomez, Stephen Tobolowsky as Dr. Kendrick, Michelle Nolden as Annette DeTamble, Jane McLean as Charisse, and the young actresses playing young Clare and Henry all bring energy to their brief scenes. But their performances are diluted by the film’s refusal to give them anything substantial to do.
The film’s visual style is competent but unremarkable. It relies on a palette of muted colors and soft focus to suggest the passage of time, but it never finds a distinctive look. The outdoor locations are beautiful, but they are used primarily as scenery rather than as extensions of the story.
The Verdict
The Time Traveler’s Wife is a film that promises more than it delivers. It has a premise that could support a powerful drama about identity, memory, and the nature of time itself. Instead, it settles for a romance with a gimmick. The result is a movie that is pleasant to watch but forgettable to remember.
The film’s strengths are its actors and its ideas. Its weaknesses are its script and its direction. It is a film that is better than its reputation, but not by much.
Key Facts Box
– Director: Robert Schwentke
– Writer: Bruce Joel Rubin
– Runtime: 107 minutes
– Release date: August 14, 2009
– Lead actors: Eric Bana, Rachel McAdams
– Based on Audrey Niffenegger’s 2003 novel
– Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
– Produced by New Line Cinema
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