Synopsis: A young woman, born at the turn of 20th century, is rendered ageless after an accident. After years of a solitary life, she meets a man who might be worth losing her immortality for.
Release Date: April 24, 2015 MPAA Rating: PG-13
Genre(s): Drama, Romance
Film Review
Production
There are a lot of romance movies around Hollywood. The Age of Adaline is one of them, but it comes with a twist. A highly unlikely, difficult to believe twist, but a twist nonetheless.
The Age of Adaline stars Blake Lively (Savages) as Adaline Bowman, a woman who, after a car accident in the 1930s involving a snowy road, a freezing lake, and a bolt of lightning, is afflicted with a condition which causes her to stop aging, effectively rendering her immortal. She goes through life obtaining a new identity every so often to avoid detection by the authorities who want to lock her away and study her. At a New Year’s Eve party, Adaline (going by the name Jenny) meets a man named Ellis Jones (Michiel Huisman from Wild) who instantly becomes smitten with her. Though she is at first reluctant, Adaline finally gives in to his advances. When she meets his parents, William and Connie (Han Solo/Indiana Jones himself Harrison Ford and Kathy Baker from “Picket Fences,” respectively), things get unexpectedly complicated, and Adaline must decide whether or not she feels strongly enough about Ellis to tell him the truth about herself.
The sap runs pretty deep in The Age of Adaline. The hopelessly romantic screenplay was written by Written by J. Mills Goodloe (The Best of Me) and Salvador Paskowitz (Nic and Tristan Go Mega Dega), but it may as well have been written by Nicholas Sparks; it’s that kind of movie. Director Lee Toland Krieger (The Vicious Kind, Celeste and Jesse Forever) forgoes subtlety and subtext, preferring to hit the viewer right over the head with spoonfed exposition and on-the-nose dialogue. All of that makes for a fairly dull movie with a somewhat silly premise.
There is a twist to The Age of Adaline that goes beyond just the fact that our heroine doesn’t age. The third act is ushered in by a surprise revelation that is nothing short of genius. This one scene – actually, it’s more of a moment within a scene – is almost enough to save the film. The fact that the big twist isn’t played up a little more is one of the biggest problems with the film; with a better setup combined with the big reveal, The Age of Adaline could have ended with a bang. But, alas, The Age of Adaline goes right back to being a sentimental romance after that one little bit of drama subsides.
There’s an audience for movies like The Age of Adaline, so it will probably do well at the box office. And the fact that it will do well at the box office says more about the audience for the movie than it does about the movie itself. It’s essentially a stereotypical romance movie that tries to hide behind a sci-fi gimmick. Twilight fans will love it.
Costumes
Although most of The Age of Adaline takes place in present day, there are plenty of flashbacks back to Adaline’s past that are all expertly costumed. Wardrobe designer Angus Strathie (who won an Oscar for the costume design in Moulin Rouge!) keeps the film’s clothing looking authentic to whichever era is being depicted. Whether it’s a photo of Adaline from the forties or a memory of hers from the sixties, the costumes look as if they were ripped right out of the respective time period. Strathie is aided a bit by the timeless beauty of Blake Lively; the actress has a look that can pull off any style from any time period, yet her face is still distinct enough for the viewer to see that it’s the same character throughout the years. No matter what Strathie puts her in, Lively looks like she belongs, not only in the clothing but in the proper time period, and for a movie like The Age of Adaline, those little details are of the utmost importance.
Cast and Crew
- Director(s): Lee Toland Krieger
- Producer(s): Sidney KimmelGary LucchesiTom Rosenberg
- Screenwriter(s): J. Mills GoodloeSalvador Paskowitz
- Story:
- Cast: Blake LivelyMichiel HuismanHarrison Ford Ellen BurstynAmanda CrewKathy Baker
- Editor(s): Melissa Kent
- Cinematographer: David Lanzenberg
- Production Designer(s):
- Costume Designer: Angus Strathie
- Casting Director(s): Deborah AquilaHeike BrandstatterCoreen Mayrs
- Music Score: Rob Simonsen
- Music Performed By:
- Country Of Origin: USA