Review: ‘Age of Adaline’ is a flawed, but intriguing romance that charms

Posted on May 1, 2015

By MARK VIOLA

The story concept of an immortal living among mortals has been tackled many times over the years and the latest is “The Age of Adeline,” a romantic drama about a woman who, following an unusual accident, stops aging.

Although the film is a satisfactory romance with a wonderful lead performance by Blake Lively (“Gossip Girl”), it doesn’t bring much new to the table for those familiar with similar works, and never reaches the level of special I personally was hoping for.

The story follows Adaline Bowman (Lively), a young woman born in 1908. As we learn in an early set of flashbacks, Adaline began her life in a most ordinary way, growing up, marrying, having a daughter and becoming a young widow. A freak accident in 1937 stops her aging, and she spends the next seven and a half decades looking as if she was 29.

Changing her identity every 10 years to avoid suspicion, her life has become a solitary one as she has become unwilling to get too close to anyone both in fear of revealing her secret and in the knowledge that she will inevitably lose them to the never-ending march of time. But then she meets Ellis Jones (Michiel Hulsman, “Game of Thrones”), who, through sheer will and an unwillingness to be turned away, finds a place in her heart, which to Adaline, is the most terrifying prospect of all.

Director Lee Toland Krieger (“Celeste & Jesse Forever”) really gives us a beautifully constructed film and gets the most out of both his cast and his settings, bringing life to both the present day scenes and the flashbacks.

But while “The Age of Adaline” got me to believe the most outlandish aspect of the story, I didn’t have as much buy-in for the actual romance. After spending so much of the first act telling us about Adaline and the reasons why she has withdrawn from a life with other people, the movie has to give us a reason why Ellis is the one to draw her back out.

I do have to say I enjoyed the film overall, which is mostly to do with the way the film tells its story and the performance of Lively. It’s not perfect, but if you’re looking for a romantic tale instead of superheroes blowing up robots, you could do much worse.

The film is rated PG-13 for a suggestive comment.

(This is a shortened version of the full review available in our printed or e-edition papers.)

Subscribe to our e-Edition and read the rest of the story. Already a subscriber? Click here to sign in.