: It explores deep themes of love, loss, the conflict between religious faith and scientific atheism, and the healing (or haunting) power of music.

Van Groeningen fractures the narrative, cross-cutting between the couple’s hopeful early romance and their present-day grief. This isn’t a gimmick — it mimics how trauma invades memory. Joyful scenes of banjo-picking and courtship are deliberately placed next to hospital vigils, forcing the viewer to feel the emotional vertigo the characters inhabit.

This broken circle of time serves two purposes: