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THE AGE OF ADALINE
Director: Lee Toland Krieger
Cast: Blake Lively, Michiel Huisman, Amanda Crew, Harrison Ford, Ellen Burstyn, Kathy Baker, Anthony Ingruber, Anjali Jay, Hugh Ross, Lynda Beyd, Richard Harrison
Rating: B
A freak car accident, ice cold water and a bolt of lightning, combined with a mumbo jumbo far-fetched scientific explanation narrated by Hugh Ross, give us a crazy answer of why a woman stops aging in her twenties and winds up as a wise 107 year old soul roaming the streets of San Francisco. Never mind the wacky reason for eternal life that defies all logic, The Age of Adaline has just enough fairy dust sprinkled on it that romantics looking for a good love story will swarm to see this heartwarming film.
Once Adaline Bowman (Blake Lively) realizes that she has stopped aging, she changes her identity every 10 years so that no one will discover her secret. Her fear is that if the wrong people find out that she is ageless she will turn into their favorite science experiment. So she spends 80 years running and hiding. Adaline never allows herself to get attached to anyone so that she will not have to bear the pain of watching them age and die. Living in San Francisco as a Librarian, Adaline is just about to retire her current identity – Jenny – when she crosses paths with Ellis (Michiel Huisman), a debonair philanthropist who is completely enamored by the mysterious young woman that seems so ahead of her years. Against her better judgement, Adaline falls for his charms but still keeps Ellis at arm’s length, explaining to him that she is moving and there is no point in them starting a relationship. Flemming (Ellen Burstyn), Adaline’s 82-year-old daughter, keeps coaxing her mother to stop running in fear and start living life.
Adaline lets her guard down and finds she is slipping into a comfortable warm cozy relationship with Ellis. Ellis proposes going to visit his parents who are celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary. They pack up the car and head to the countryside to meet Ellis’ parents, Connie (Ruth Baker) and William (Harrison Ford). In a not so surprising twist, William stops dead in his tracks when he meets Adaline because this is not the first time he has come in contact with the lovely lady standing in his hallway. He thinks he is losing his mind when he sees his son’s beautiful house guest, but Adaline explains away that her name is Jenny and she just happens to be the spitting image of her mother who died 6 years ago.
The cast in Age of Adaline is what saves this movie from being potentially silly. Pulling off an interesting dynamic as mother and daughter whose physical appearances don’t match the ravages of time, Burstyn and Lively display great chemistry together. Burstyn is energy on screen and a delight to watch as the senior citizen who watches out for her mother. Baker is very touching as William’s wife and her reaction to finding out that she was not her husband’s first love is one of the more memorable scenes in the movie. Huisman carries the role of the hunky strong millionaire with a big heart to a tilt, and many will swoon over him after seeing him playing the role with unconditional and undying love. Ford is particularly fantastic in his role as the long lost love struggling to make sense out of what he thinks is his mind playing tricks on him. Showing off tortured facial expression, he is able to capture the pain his character felt when Adaline slipped from his fingers.
Now let’s talk about Blake Lively, who pretty much carries the film. The statuesque actress gives us haunting looks through the camera as she remembers her past and everything that she could not keep in her grasp. We get glimpses into a woman’s rich life that is never completely fulfilled because it is impossible for her to grow old gracefully. Through some strange conversations, Lively is able to convince us that she is Flemming’s mother, despite the fact that her youthful self is lecturing an 82-year-old woman. She is elegant and yet understated in this role as the girl who wants to remain incognito. We get to see how emotionally torn Lively’s character is with some of the decisions she must face. The young actress is able pull off the wisdom of age hiding behind the glow of youth quite nicely.
The ludicrous explanation to Adaline’s fountain of youth doesn’t really make any sense, and that alone could have led to a disaster of a movie. Despite the crazy off-beat scientific twist, The Age of Adaline (which feels like Benjamin Button meets Somewhere in Time) has just the right amount of enchantment to strike a chord in those that love watching affairs of the heart… hopeless romantics on a mission to have their heart strings pulled are definitely in for a treat.
