HFC at SXSW ‘24: Timestalker

"I'll love you forever" is a sweet sentiment in the moment, but forever is a very long time. In Alice Lowe's Timestalker, which had its world premiere at SXSW, love lasts for eternity, but not necessarily in a good way. 

Lowe stars in the film as Agnes, a woman obsessed with a man named Alex throughout multiple lifetimes. Each time she meets him, she saves him from death and dies herself, reincarnating in a new life with a different past and the same obsession.

Every new lifetime brings a fresh aesthetic and an opportunity for the cast to redefine their characters. Agnes' best friend Meg (Tanya Reynolds) is in love with Agnes in each lifetime: always the bridesmaid, never the bride, and, occasionally, the maid. Scipio (Jacob Anderson) watches Agnes' multiple lives with a wry smile and urges her to break the wheel of fortune she's eternally stuck on. And George (Nick Frost) begins the film as a dog in 1693 and retains a dogged, murderous obsession with Agnes throughout time.

But as the years flash by, Scipio's above-it-all grin takes on a hint of exhaustion as he finds himself time and time again (literally) involved in Agnes' drama. Meg's devotion deepens into a melancholic understanding of what she can actually expect from her friend. Even George, who we first see as a literal beast before becoming just beastly through the film, is revealed to be a more tragic figure than he first seemed.

The characters are all, in their own ways, lovelorn and trapped in their habits. In the Q&A following the film, Lowe described her attempt to tell a story about how hard it is to change and how that might take many thousands and millions of years. Timestalker centers on a universal feeling; haven't we all been embarrassingly, tragically in love with someone who doesn't love us in the same way? Haven't we all believed we could become the person we want to be with the person we want to be with? Does knowing everything about a person preclude them the opportunity to change into something else? Love is hard and change is harder and, to butcher a classic quote, we wear the chains we forge in life—or lives, as the case may be here.

But just because Timestalker tackles big themes doesn't mean that it's a dour watch. Lowe got her start in comedy (you might remember her from The Mighty Boosh or Garth Merenghi's Darkplace), and her sharp wit and creative timing shines through in every scene. It's incredibly funny to watch Agnes pratfall through her lives like a tornado, mistreating Meg and usually oblivious to anything other than her romantic pursuit. 

Timestalker has some of the sharpest dialogue in a comedy to come out in years, but it never comes at the expense of the characters. We remain invested in Agnes’ pursuit of love and happiness, even as we watch her try to coax a canary out of its cage with a dusty dildo or, in my favorite joke in the film, ask with complete sincerity what it could mean when a fortune teller draws "The Fool" tarot card with an illustration of a clown chasing a bird off a cliff. 

Lowe's performance is a huge part of this balancing act, expertly riding the line between showing Agnes as a pitiful fool and a woman deserving of love and self-worth. When she gazes at Alex in each lifetime, you believe that she adores him with all her heart. It's impossible not to root for her at least a little bit even as it's made abundantly clear that Alex doesn’t feel the same spark. 

Much like her previous film Prevenge, Lowe’s Timestalker doesn't fit neatly into a prescribed genre. It’s been labeled a romantic comedy in some marketing materials, and it is the most romantic and comedic film to have hit the big screen in the last few years. But it's also sweet and sad and uplifting in its depiction of how hard it can be to change yourself and how important it is to try anyway.