Für immer Adaline

Excellent performances, a truly poignant story. See it, you won't be disappointed.

Director Lee Toland Krieger wisely speeds through the scientific mumbo-jumbo, treating it as the least-interesting aspect of this tale. Instead, he focuses on the relationship fallout of Adaline's predicament. It's a disarmingly affecting film, and very sad at points. A rumination on loneliness. Cinematically, Krieger serves up numerous arching, overhead shots and slow-motion sequences. This coupled with the various time periods tackled gives the picture a buoyant sense of scope.

Particularly memorable in this is Harrison Ford. After stiff and stagey efforts in movies such as "42," Ford delivers a beautifully conflicted performance as a man trying to reconcile his past.

Highly recommended.

Already drawn to the premise of this film, I had high expectations of it, and was particularly interested in seeing Blake Lively in the lead role as a 107 year old eternally young woman. From only seeing her work in Gossip Girl, which was adequate but not particularly memorable, I was keen to see what her acting range was like. Not only did Lively impress me, but the film did also, surpassing my expectations.

The Age of Adaline is not only visually beautiful, (props to cinematographer David Lanzenberg) but the story is also. Yes, this is a romance film, but the evocative story raises questions from the viewer about life, death, and love. Michiel Huisman is great in his role as a sensitive romantic who yearns to be close to and understand Adaline - well done to the writers for creating a male romantic lead who isn't unrealistically perfect and cliché. Harrison Ford impressed me greatly, especially in his scenes with Lively, so much so that I was brought to tears through a mere look. Ellen Burstyn as Flemming provided a charming voice of reason for the protagonist. The score was also wonderfully done, making the emotional scenes all the more powerful, and the costume designer did very well in allowing the audience to fill in the time blanks without knowing the era through the narrated dates.

Overall, a beautifully crafted film with a wonderful story and powerful performances that will completely captivate the viewers.

This is a standard love story drama. It could have been so much more, but the actors could only take what they're given so far.

The writers/etc could have turned the age element of the movie into something truly unique, and explored the interesting angles it offers (is it possible to have many 'true loves'? How would a wizened woman of many years express herself whilst encased in the body of a late twenties young woman? How would she act in critical situations which faze less experienced people? How would she keep up with the times? What jobs or knowledge would she focus on? How would she nurture the legacy she leaves behind in the form of her sons and daughters?).

Instead, the movie went for the superficial, flimsy, easy options (examples: she's great at navigating traffic because she's had decades to learn the city's shortcuts, she wears a lot of old-cut clothing), and turned the main protagonist into a ditsy ditherer at key moments that needed a more delicate and refined touch (her attitude when being chatted up at parties, her car breaking down, meeting her lover's family for the first time). Even the jobs she has and the skills she's acquired are just sort of padding and not really explored despite being a key choice she's made.

Basically, the whole movie focuses on the love story between this protagonist and her new boyfriend despite already having a potentially very interesting female lead character that could have been developed so much more elegantly; a new boyfriend might be a part of that, that makes sense... but it took up far too much of the film's focus when there were other topics that needed some development too. It felt like a feast of potentially interesting avenues were hinted at in the writing, and yet the main route taken was the typical stereotype love story. Why bother kicking off the story with such an interesting twist if it just becomes part of the backdrop and doesn't influence the characters' behaviour?

That leads me onto a final point which made me increasingly uncomfortable when watching the film – the way the male lead character pressures and pushes the lead protagonist into going out with him is a bit unnerving. He publicly pressures her into having a photo taken in front of her colleagues when she's clearly unsettled by it, and then offers her a way out: go on a date with him. Hm. They part ways. Then later on he finds out her address (via her workplace?!) which she wanted to keep private, and just pops up to stalk her a bit more. The first half of their dynamic is her pushing him away, placating him, etc. and him being far too full on – it's not romantic, it's really creepy to see, and it's another point where I think a woman of over 100 wouldn't behave in the "no doesn't really mean no" ditsy schoolgirl manner, which quite frankly was a bit weird. It made me uncomfortable watching it when supposedly the movie's main intention was to make me think this new relationship was "cute". It wasn't. It was just stalker-ish!

Lee Toland Kriger's The Age of Adaline is a superb romantic thanks to its lead duo. Blake Lively is Adaline, the fair immortal who hasn't aged for several decades due to a severe car crash. She goes from relationship to relationship, from town to town, never settling down. A risky chance comes in the form of Ellis (Huisman), a stylish man whose intellect almost matches Adaline's own. Their encounters are warm, humorous and touching. Great support comes from Harrison Ford and Kathy Baker as Ellis' parents. Nudges of surrealism make TAoA vary from the usual romantic stories. Its voice-over, telling Adaline's 'miraculous' tale, is its only downfall. The unknown storyteller attempts to justify Adaline's conditions, but it comes across as a magnificent coincidence instead.

If you can have Harrison Ford in your movie and you just introduce him almost an hour into the movie and it still works: You know you have a winner. Generally speaking the actors involved are phenomenal. It's a joy to watch them. Even if some situations seem a bit sugar coated (not too much though) and there is the occasional cliché in it, the science fiction element of it, still makes this very interesting.

You have a lot of things that are being "told" by looks. Which again is a big part of the acting talent at hand. You may be able to see where this is going (a few indicators early on, but even without them), but it's still a fun ride to have