The Age of Adaline could be described as a magical realist film, except that it uses some hilariously precise faux-science to explain its central bit of extraordinary magic. Rather than simply wave it away as some sort of unexplainable occurrence, or play it off as a postmodern joke, the film goes into detail into the process with which its heroine becomes functionally immortal. The resulting explanation is more than a little hokey, but it is kind of endearing in a way. And that describes the film in a nutshell. The Age of Adaline never quite rises beyond the silliness of its premise, but its devotion to it is also kind of charming.
Adaline (Blake Lively) was born in 1908, but a freak accident caused her to stop aging at 29. Some time in the 50s, after the FBI takes notice of her strange condition, she goes in hiding, and resigns herself to spending the rest of her unnaturally long life having to constantly change identities and avoiding forming attachments with other people. But then she meets Ellis (Michiel Huisman), a charming young man unwilling to just let her go. Adaline is all but ready to change identities again, but for once she is entertaining the idea of sharing the truth with someone.
It's a hokey conceit, but to the film's credit, it commits to it fully. There is not a shred of irony to the whole thing, the film delivering every weird little wrinkle with a consistent, matter-of-fact tone. It doesn't make the story any better or any smarter, really, but it does make it somewhat easier to swallow. The film doesn't go nearly deep enough in exploring the consequences of its premise, but there is charm in how it gently this story plays out, finding a measure of romance and its depiction of a slightly magical world where extraordinary things can sometimes happen.
The real problem lies in the central relationship, which never really develops much of a depth of feeling. Adaline's reluctance to enter a relationship never feels wholly justified, and Ellis' pursuit of her becomes tedious after a point. Passion only enters the picture in the second half of the movie, where a narrative twist introduces a complication that is all at once ridiculous and kind of interesting. This is one of those things that should not be given away, but the film brings in a development that results in both awkwardness and a sense of deep melancholy that gives the film its weird, goofy heart.
It's not entirely successful, but there is just something winning about how the movie just goes for it. The film presents a sense of scale that feels all at once incongruous and bracing. If nothing else, the film gets a lot out of its actors. Blake Lively is a revelation in this film, the actress showing composure well beyond her years. In her scenes with Ellen Burstyn, who plays her daughter, she is able to convey a motherly nature that feels weirdly natural in spite of the strange circumstances. Michiel Huisman applies his formidable charms to the role of the love interest, and thus makes it easier to buy into the undercooked love story.
The Age of Adaline ends up feeling pretty corny, but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Its corniness, at the very least, is indication of the real love that’s put been put into the story. It is out here to be cool. It is instead, an overly earnest attempt at telling a story of what makes life worth living. This doesn’t exactly mean that the movie is good, either, but its commitment to its hokey depiction of this particular conceit lend it a certain charm that cannot be outright dismissed.
My Rating:
