Review: The Age of Adaline
By Christine Petralia
Image courtesy of Lionsgate
April 29, 2015
*NOTE: Contains spoilers*
Imagine waking up one day in your late 20s and never aging another day. Your brain, your body and your looks stay the same for decades! You get to live through so many historical moments. Sounds great, right? Well, it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. At least according to Adaline Bowman. All this is explored in the romantic fantasy The Age of Adaline starring Blake Lively in the lead character.
The story begins with Adaline Bowman preparing to leave San Francisco to start a new life and new identity in a different state. She does this every 10 years. And through archives at her job, we learn that Adaline was born in 1908. After her husband dies, she raises her daughter on her own. When she was 29 years ago, she got in a horrible car accident that essentially left her dead. That is until lightning struck her car, jolting her back to life. But also leaving her unable to age.
For a while, no one notices that her beauty never fades. But soon, as her daughter reaches her 20s, people start to question her. Police think she has a fake ID and the FBI thinks she’s a spy. She makes a decision to go on the run and create a new life for herself. She leaves her daughter Flemming (Ellen Burstyn) behind. Flemming is also the only person who knows Adaline’s secret. When the two meet over the years, they come up with stories of who Adaline is, never revealing she is Flemming’s mother.
Cut to present day, when Adaline is preparing for her next move. During a New Year’s Eve party, Adaline runs into a man in an elevator. Ellis (Michiel Huisman) is very persistent. He tracks her down at her job and donates very rare books, but only if she will go out with him. They go on a few lunch dates, but Adaline keeps pushing him away. Finally, she caves and goes to dinner at his home where they fall for each other. She insists to him that it’s a one-night stand, but he keeps pushing. She snaps after her dog passes away.
With some pressure from Flemming, Adaline apologizes to Ellis and decides to go all in and stop running. But after a trip to meet his parents, she changes her mind when she meets his father, William (Harrison Ford). Turns out William was her true love years ago. He recognizes her right away, but she says that she’s Adaline’s daughter. After a day or two of wrestling with the memories, William realizes the truth. He confronts her and she confirms she’s Adaline. He understands, strangely, and begs her not to break Ellis’ heart. But fight or flight, she runs, leaving a cryptic message for Ellis.
On her tear-filled car ride to who knows where, a quick call to Flemming makes Adaline realize she really needs to stop running. As she turns the car around, she crashes and dies…again. At this point Ellis sees the car and pulls over. EMS jolts her back to life. At the hospital, she tells him everything. He also understands. I guess love is a crazy thing.
A year later of no longer running, Adaline and Ellis get ready for another party. As she takes one last look in the mirror, she notices a gray hair. And her problem of no longer aging is over, as the jolt back to life fixed her issue.
I have to say, while it was a pretty predictable film, I did enjoy it. I could have used a little more Harrison Ford, but Lively did a pretty good job of portraying a troubled young (or rather) old woman. The thought of never aging and being around for decades. Seeing all the technology change over the years. She adapted pretty well and even took up several languages. I guess that’s what you do when you have all that time on your hands. But it does raise the question of falling in love and maintain friendships. In the 1940s and 50s, when so much was going on in the world, you could understand why Adaline would run. But as William and Flemming said, now, in present day, no one cares.
Really makes you think. If you’re looking for a cute romance film, this isn’t bad.
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