“If a clock could count down to the moment you meet your soul mate, would you want to know?”
Timer (2009), stylised as TiMER, is the feature length film debut, both written and directed, by Jac Schaeffer that carries an interesting premise. A company produces an all-new type of matchmaking device named “the timer” which determines when you will meet your soul mate. After fifteen years of operation, the company has a 98% approval rating.
The film opens rather boringly, with Oona, an orthodontist, who has a blank timer meaning her soulmate does not have one yet. She brings her latest timer-less boyfriend to get a timer installed in hope that they will match. However, they don’t and they decide to part ways.
Whilst Oona is obsessed with the device and meeting her soulmate, we soon learn that she sometimes doubts the effectiveness of the timer. Plus, her roommate and stepsister, Steph, will not meet her soulmate, according to her timer, until she is 43.
Steph works as a receptionist at a retirement home during the day and as a bartender at night. She usually has one-night stands with men whose timers are about to expire and are looking for a last sexual encounter before they meet their soulmate.
Their younger brother Jesse, who is only in 9th grade, has reached the age of 14 where he can finally have a timer fitted. His reveals that he will meet his soulmate in just 3 days time, which upsets both Oona and Steph considering their situations. However, these all work wonderfully to show a variety of how the timer works for differnet people.
Oona begins seeing a young man, Mikey, who works at the grocery store she frequently visits and he eventually reveals that his timer is fake. Whilst working at the retirement home, Steph meets Dan, a widower who does not have a timer because he feels he already met his soulmate. Steph tries to introduce him to Oona but she does not show up.
After they meet Oona’s father’s partner, who tells them she got her timer removed because even though het father isn’t the one she still loves him, the sisters decide to get their timers removed, but only Steph goes through with the procedure when its revealed that the process is irreversible and her timer changes, indicating that her soulmate finally got a timer and they will soon meet.
TiMER, whilst not visually interesting, holds your attention based on its concept. The way that the characters work around the knowledge of the timer is essentially the same as it is without – Oona’s parents are pushing her to find her soulmate as she approaches her 30th birthday, people still have one night stands before they meet their soulmate in the same way some people consider it before they get married.
Oona and Steph’s mother Marion explains in one scene how herself and Oona’s father separating and Steph’s mother dying allowed for them to meet and to create the perfect family. She says “don’t you just feel like you were meant to be sisters?” which is quite touching and hints more on the idea of fate, especially as their birthdays fall on the same day.
Eventually, Oona does meet her soulmate with the help of the timer, which is a nice ending to the film considering we become as invested as Oona herself in wanting to find her soulmate.
On Twitter, I asked if a timer could count down to when you meet your soulmate, would you want to know? And the results were an overwhelming yes! I do imagine that those who are still seeking love will be more likely to answer yes, whilst those who are already with someone are more likely to answer no – just in case!
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