The Time Traveler's Wife (film)

The Time Traveler's Wife
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Robert Schwentke
Produced by	Brad Pitt Nick Wechsler Dede Gardner
Written by	Jeremy Leven Bruce Joel Rubin Audrey Niffenegger (Novel)
Based on	The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Starring	Eric Bana Rachel McAdams Ron Livingston
Music by	Mychael Danna
Cinematography	Florian Ballhaus
Editing by	Thom Noble
Studio	Plan B Entertainment
Distributed by	New Line Cinema
Release date(s)	August 14, 2009 (2009-08-14)
Running time	108 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$39 million
Box office	$101,229,792 (worldwide)

The Time Traveler's Wife is a 2009 romantic film based on Audrey Niffenegger's 2003 novel of the same name. Directed by Robert Schwentke, the film stars Eric Bana as Henry DeTamble, a Chicago librarian with a genetic disorder that causes him to time travel randomly as he tries to build a romantic relationship with his love Claire, played by Rachel McAdams.

Filming began in September 2007, originally in anticipation of a fall 2008 release. The film's release was postponed with initially no official explanation from the studio. McAdams later noted that the delay was due to additional scenes and reshoots that could not be completed until the season at their outdoor location matched previously filmed footage, and Bana had regrown his hair following his work on the 2009 film Star Trek. The film was released in theaters on August 14, 2009.

Plot

In the early 1970s, Henry DeTamble is in a car accident with his mother that results in her death. Henry survives by inadvertently time traveling back two weeks earlier to the scene. Moments later, Henry is helped by an older version of himself, who has also traveled back. Unable to control the timing or destinations of his traveling, Henry finds himself drawn to significant people, places, and events in his life but is incapable of changing events beyond the minor differences his presence creates.

In 1995, Henry meets Claire, who is overjoyed to see him although he is actually meeting her for the first time. Claire explains that she has known Henry for most of her life and that he is her best friend. They begin a relationship, which is challenged by Henry's disorder. His sporadic time traveling is further complicated by the fact that he is completely naked when he arrives at his destination, and from a young age he has learned how to pick locks and steal in order to acquire clothes and survive his travels. Among his getaways are many visits to young Claire; from present-day Claire's diary he gets a list of dates when he visited her, and gives those to young Claire so that she can be waiting for him with clothes. Falling in love, Henry and Claire eventually marry, though he actually time travels away before the ceremony and an older version of himself arrives in time to step in.

Henry's disappearances take their toll on his relationship with Claire. His disorder allows him to win the lottery by having the numbers in advance, but also makes having a child with Claire seemingly impossible, as Henry's genes cause their unborn fetuses to time travel. After numerous such miscarriages, Henry has a secret vasectomy to end their suffering. Claire soon gets pregnant one last time — by a visiting younger version of Henry — and is able to carry the baby full term. Henry travels forward in time before the child is born and meets their daughter Alba as a preteen; she tells him that she is a time traveler, too, but has increasing control over when and where she travels. She also tells Henry that he will die when she is five, a fact that Henry keeps from Claire upon his return to the present. Young Alba is visited sporadically by her preteen self, who ultimately tries to prepare the younger girl for Henry's death. A devastated Claire soon finds out what is to come. Later, Henry time travels and is shot by Claire's father as he hunts; he returns in time to die in Claire's arms. A younger Henry later visits Alba and Claire, giving Claire hope that he will visit again, but he tells her not to spend her life waiting for him.

Cast

• Eric Bana as Henry DeTamble, a Chicago librarian
• Rachel McAdams as Claire DeTamble (née Abshire), an artist
• Ron Livingston as Gomez, Claire and Henry's friend and Charisse's boyfriend
• Jane McLean as Charisse, Claire's best friend and roommate
• Stephen Tobolowsky as Dr. David Kendrick
• Arliss Howard as Richard DeTamble, Henry's father, a professional violinist
• Brooklynn Proulx as Young Claire Abshire (ages 6 and 8)
• Alex Ferris as Young Henry DeTamble (age 6)
• Hailey McCann (ages 9 and 10) and Tatum McCann (ages 4 and 5) as Alba DeTamble, Henry and Claire's daughter
• Michelle Nolden as Annette DeTamble, Henry's mother
• Maggie Castle as Alicia Abshire, Claire's younger sister
• Fiona Reid as Lucille Abshire, Claire's mother
• Philip Craig as Philip Abshire, Claire's father
• Brian Bisson as Mark Abshire, Claire's brother

Production

The film rights for Audrey Niffenegger's 2003 novel The Time Traveler's Wife were optioned by Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt's production company Plan B Entertainment, in association with New Line Cinema, before her work was even published. Niffenegger stated in an interview that she had thoughts of how a film version of the book would appear, as she was writing the book. When asked about the prospect of her novel being turned into a film, Niffenegger said, "I've got my little movie that runs in my head. And I'm kind of afraid that will be changed or wiped out by what somebody else might do with it. And it is sort of thrilling and creepy, because now the characters have an existence apart from me."

In September 2003, the studio hired screenwriter Jeremy Leven to write an adapted screenplay of the novel. Directors Steven Spielberg and David Fincher briefly expressed interest in the project, though no negotiations took place. In March 2005, director Gus Van Sant entered negotiations with the studio to helm the project. The negotiations did not hold, and in November 2006, director Robert Schwentke was instead hired to take over the project.

In January 2007, New Line hired screenwriter Bruce Joel Rubin to rewrite Leven's script. Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams were cast in April 2007. Filming began in Toronto on September 10, 2007. It was also shot in Hamilton, Ontario. The film was originally planned for a fall 2008 release, but it was postponed with no official explanation from the studio. When asked about the delay, McAdams said, "We wound up doing a reshoot, and Eric was the holdup ... He had to shave his head for a different role, for Star Trek, I think. ...We did an additional scene in the meadow, so we were also waiting on the meadow to look the way it did [the first time we shot]. So we were waiting on the seasons. Basically we were waiting on nature and Eric's hair." The film was released by Warner Brothers on August 14, 2009.

Music

The score to The Time Traveler's Wife was composed by Mychael Danna, who recorded his score with the Hollywood Studio Symphony at the Ocean Way Studios during the fall of 2008. The trailer featured the song "Broken" by Lifehouse, which is within in the film and the promotional music video. A television commercial for the film featured the song "Show Me What I'm Looking For" by Carolina Liar, although it was not included within the soundtrack. The film also features a cover of Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart" performed by Canadian indie rock band Broken Social Scene.

The official motion picture soundtrack was released on August 11, 2009 and available to download from Amazon (MP3 format) or iTunes (MPEG-4 format) by New Line Records, along with a digital booklet in portable document format which summarizes the credits of the album along with screenshots and other promotional images of the film. A pressed compact disc version was released by Decca Records, but is generally only available from vendors outside the US. See Amazon.co.uk for availability.

Music from the Motion Picture

The Time Traveler's Wife (Music from the Motion Picture)
Soundtrack album (Digital download) by Mychael Danna
Released	August 11, 2009
Length	55:02
Label	New Line Records
Professional reviews
The reviews parameter has been deprecated. Please move reviews into the “Reception” section of the article. See Moving reviews into article space. Filmtracks

1. "Es Ist Ein Ros" – 0:51
2. "I'm You Henry" – 2:30
3. "Meadow" – 3:19
4. "How Does It Feel?" – 1:59
5. "Diary" – 1:21
6. "Train" – 1:43
7. "I Don't Feel Alone Anymore" – 2:22
8. "Love Will Tear Us Apart" - Performed by Broken Social Scene – 4:44
9. "Married to Me" – 1:04
10. "Home" – 1:36
11. "Do You Know When?" – 2:09
12. "Testing" – 1:04
13. "Alba" – 2:33
14. "I Never Had a Choice" – 2:58
15. "Who Would Want That" – 2:29
16. "I Left Him Sleeping" – 1:30
17. "It's a Girl" – 2:58
18. "Five Years" – 2:03
19. "Try to Stay" – 1:40
20. "New Year's Eve" 1:55
21. "No Tracks in the Snow" – 1:48
22. "See You Again" – 5:42
23. "Broken" - Performed by Lifehouse – 4:47

Songs appearing in the film not included with the release of the soundtrack

• "Show Me What I'm Looking For" - Performed by Carolina Liar – 4:00
• "Clocks" - Performed by Coldplay – 5:07
• "Gone to Earth" - Performed by American Analog Set – 7:03

Reception

Critical response

The film has received mixed reviews from critics. Based on 130 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes, The Time Traveler's Wife has a 38% approval rating from critics, with an average score of 5.2/10 saying, "Though it may satisfy fans of the novel, The Time Traveler's Wife's plot contrivances and illogical narrative hamper its big screen effectiveness". Metacritic, another review aggregator which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 top reviews from mainstream critics, gives the film an average score of 45 based on 29 reviews.

Box office

The film opened third behind District 9 and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, grossing $19.2 million on its opening weekend. Grossing $101,229,792 worldwide (over $63,000,000 of which was grossed in the United States) on a $39,000,000 budget, the film was a financial success.

Home media

The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on February 9, 2010.

External links

• Official website
• The Time Traveler's Wife at the Internet Movie Database
• The Time Traveler's Wife at AllRovi
• The Time Traveler's Wife at Box Office Mojo
• The Time Traveler's Wife at Metacritic