'The Age of Adeline' (PG-13) 3 1/2 stars
Its a movie to savor. Its a movie to ponder. Its The Age of Adaline.
Imagine a tragic accident that nearly costs you your life, but a freak anomaly of nature not only saves you, but leaves you timeless. You simply stop aging. What at first seems an incredible gift soon reveals itself to carry incredible liabilities.
Blake Lively stars as Adaline, who was born in San Francisco just as the city suffered a devastating earthquake in 1906. She witnesses the rebuilding of the Bay Area, she marries an engineer who is engaged in the building of the Golden Gate Bridge and together they have a child. Its a good life.
But Adaline receives her first major life crisis when her husband is killed in a construction accident on the bridge, leaving her a single mom during the Great Depression, just before the outbreak of World War II. This is the time when our heroine becomes ageless when her car careens off the road into icy water.
When the realization that she is not growing older sinks in, Adaline has to deal with the fact that shell outlive everyone she knows and loves friends, family and even her little daughter.
She soon realizes people will eventually notice that theyre aging and she's not. It presents real problems, including governmental inquiries and the FBI detaining her for questioning. She realizes she could become a lab rat and makes a rather dramatic escape.
What to do? Adaline decides to divide her life into decades, and after each 10-year period, she moves and reinvents her life new friends, new job, new location, new name. The only common denominator is her aging daughter, eventually played by Ellen Burstyn. Its fascinating to see them interact as the much older, grandmotherly woman refers to the beautiful Adaline as "Mama." It is heartbreaking to watch these two women plan for the aging, much younger daughter.
The story peaks with Adaline falling in love. This isnt the first time, but its something she has tried to avoid over her 109 years because, after all, its an effort in futility. When a patron of the library she works for, played by Michiel Huisman, asks her out and diligently works to sweep her off her feet, she casts fate to the wind, leading to a traditional meet the family weekend where Harrison Ford and Kathy Baker star as Dad and Mom. This is where the story really gets complicated.
This is absolutely Livelys movie, and shes mesmerizing. Some might criticize this film for being slow, but that invites the beauty and introspection. You cant help but empathize and make her plight your own.
I was truly taken by this film.
Its a movie to savor. Its a movie to ponder. Its The Age of Adaline.
Imagine a tragic accident that nearly costs you your life, but a freak anomaly of nature not only saves you, but leaves you timeless. You simply stop aging. What at first seems an incredible gift soon reveals itself to carry incredible liabilities.
Blake Lively stars as Adaline, who was born in San Francisco just as the city suffered a devastating earthquake in 1906. She witnesses the rebuilding of the Bay Area, she marries an engineer who is engaged in the building of the Golden Gate Bridge and together they have a child. Its a good life.
But Adaline receives her first major life crisis when her husband is killed in a construction accident on the bridge, leaving her a single mom during the Great Depression, just before the outbreak of World War II. This is the time when our heroine becomes ageless when her car careens off the road into icy water.
When the realization that she is not growing older sinks in, Adaline has to deal with the fact that shell outlive everyone she knows and loves friends, family and even her little daughter.
She soon realizes people will eventually notice that theyre aging and she's not. It presents real problems, including governmental inquiries and the FBI detaining her for questioning. She realizes she could become a lab rat and makes a rather dramatic escape.
What to do? Adaline decides to divide her life into decades, and after each 10-year period, she moves and reinvents her life new friends, new job, new location, new name. The only common denominator is her aging daughter, eventually played by Ellen Burstyn. Its fascinating to see them interact as the much older, grandmotherly woman refers to the beautiful Adaline as "Mama." It is heartbreaking to watch these two women plan for the aging, much younger daughter.
The story peaks with Adaline falling in love. This isnt the first time, but its something she has tried to avoid over her 109 years because, after all, its an effort in futility. When a patron of the library she works for, played by Michiel Huisman, asks her out and diligently works to sweep her off her feet, she casts fate to the wind, leading to a traditional meet the family weekend where Harrison Ford and Kathy Baker star as Dad and Mom. This is where the story really gets complicated.
This is absolutely Livelys movie, and shes mesmerizing. Some might criticize this film for being slow, but that invites the beauty and introspection. You cant help but empathize and make her plight your own.
I was truly taken by this film.