"The Age of Adaline"

Title: The Age of Adaline
Director: Lee Toland Krieger
Writer: J. Mills Goodloe, Salvador Paskowitz
Category: Drama, Romance
Duration: 112 min
Rate: 

The Age of Adaline can be considered as a movie you decide to watch because you need a special moment for yourself to make your brain rest for a bit. It is a movie that allows you to just be emotionally pulled into the story and also be invested in the characters and their evolution.

The plot is simple, but with a twist of magic mixed with physic's laws and chances. Adaline Bowman is a young woman who always lived her life accordingly. She had a nice marriage, a daughter and a perfect life, until a car accident changed her life forever. Thanks to faith and lucky circumstances after her fatal car crash, or because of it, she receives the gift of eternal youth. From that point on, Adaline will never age again and she will have to live her life hiding and moving from city to city in order to keep her secret.

The Age of Adaline can be considered as a movie without pretenses. It is just a love story that goes beyond time. It is a story about that strong and universal power of love that pushes us to make hard choices and take chances in the blink of an eye.

Love is ever present in Adaline's life in all its many forms. There is the love for her daughter as the moving force that is helping her carry on even though she is scared that one day she will have to say goodbye to her forever, since she is growing old unlike her mother. There is also the different kind of love she felt for the few men in her life that at some point she had to give up because of her secret. As a consequence of this curse or gift, she always had to give up love to protect herself. But ultimately it is precisely this strong emotion that will push her to choose to tell the truth to Ellis, the young man who is pursuing her relentlessly and who is quickly falling in love with her uniqueness.

Blake Lively was an excellent choice for this rule. She has a timeless glow that makes her perfect for a role in which she has to portray a woman in different historical periods. She is believable as Adaline in the 1920, 1930 and 1940 as well as the young archivist in our contemporary time. Michiel Husman is the perfect co-star for her. They both complement and compliment each other. In fact, while Ellis is open, persistent and determined to win her over, Adaline is more reserved, quiet and focused on not being noticed, so much so that she doesn't have any pictures of herself for fear that someone might discover her secret. Even though they are polar opposite, they both need the other to be the best versions of themselves. They are like magnets and even when she is trying to go unnoticed, her elegance and eternal beauty cast a luminous glow that catches and attracts Ellis' eyes. Blake and Michiel's chemistry was mellow but powerful nonetheless, they were both comfortable with each other and made the relationship between their characters more real and believable.

This movie is simple but powerful in terms of emotions. It is a classic love story and it does not pretend to be something more.

The scenery and the cinematography look ageless like the protagonist. The colors help the audience feel the weight of having to live an ageless life without someone to share it with because ultimately it will just bring more grief.

The ending is satisfying and, for a brief moment, even my cynical self believed in the limitless power of love.

All in all The Age of Adaline is a pretty good love story with a great happy ending and an interesting twist about faith and the important rule that it plays in our life.

Till next time,

Fred

Here the trailer: