maudlin

It wouldn’t be surprising to hear that when Aster catches himself getting maudlin, he forces himself to actively wallow in self-pity until it feels like a joke.

He’s also invested his protagonist with a self-deprecating sense of humor that keeps his pessimism from veering into maudlin territory.

But the film eventually turns maudlin, going so far as to include a prolonged scene where Adam says goodbye to the memory of his parents in a restaurant they used to frequent as a family.

If he did, the film would get maudlin.

Thankfully, “We Live in Time” never becomes maudlin, but it also never generates much emotion other than disappointment and frustration.