Review of The Age of Adaline (2015) by Richard B — 01 Sep 2017

I enjoyed the film largely because of the performance of Blake Lively in the role of Adaline, a woman who stops aging after a freak accident. Lively is so beautiful, intelligent and charming in this, with a kind of radiance that goes to the notion of inner beauty surpassing mere physical beauty, that I was smitten and willing to forgive some implausible aspects of the already fairy tale-like story.

Her performance is best when she's most serious and restrained, holding her emotions in check because she knows she can't become too attached to others or reveal her secret to anyone. The love interest who comes into her life after decades of being alone is Ellis, played by Michiel Huisman who I found both unappealing and poor in his acting performance.

Harrison Ford does well as Adaline's last great love decades earlier. The lighting, mood and styling of the film are also noteworthy. Partial spoiler alert: I didn't care for the tidy upbeat ending.

I would have preferred something that involved Adaline resuming her normal aging process but with only a hint that she would then return to Ellis after leaving him with no explanation.