By Jessica Leafe
In this romantic drama, Blake Lively plays Adaline Bowman, a San Francisco woman who remains 29-years-old for nearly eight decades after a near death experience halts her aging. After Adaline’s husband is killed in an accident, her young daughter continues to grow, overtaking her in age but remaining close as Adaline shifts identity every ten years.
We meet Adaline in the present day, a lover of history who works in a library and avoids close relationships and having her photograph taken. Her closest friends are a spaniel dog, her aging daughter and a blind musician. That is until Ellis Jones (Game of Thrones’ Michiel Hulsman) enters the scene. Adaline’s decision to meet his parents on a family weekend risks her story becoming discovered.
The film is softly romantic and visually appealing. Lively plays Adaline with a subtle touch of smooth antiquity to her voice. At times she appears to characterise herself with age, while at others she appears much younger again. The relationship between Adaline and her aging daughter (played by Ellen Burstyn) is done well and Michiel Huisman is the appropriately bearded romantic male who balances scruffiness with sensitivity.
The costume design by Academy Award winner Angus Strathie (Moulin Rouge!) is one of the best parts of the film – even in the present day setting, Adaline is dressed with a sense of nostalgia that gives occasional nods to her early twentieth century origins.
Blake Lively delivers a performance that strides clearly into a new genre of roles for her. Lovers of gentle romance and period drama will enjoy The Age of Adaline immensely.
The Age of Adaline is out in cinemas today.
The first official image from the upcoming film Paddington reveals Nicole Kidman as the villainous Millicent, a keen taxidermist, with a sinister eye on Paddington Bear.
On August 29, 2014
Watch Johnny Depp and Benedict Cumberbatch play brothers.
On July 31, 2015
Ethan Hunt is back with an awesome team. They take on their most impossible mission yet, eradicating the Syndicate, an International rogue organisation, as highly skilled as they are, committed...
On March 24, 2015
Insurgent, the thrillingly dark sequel to the New York Times bestseller Divergent by Veronica Roth, will be coming to our screens on 19 March.
On March 3, 2015
Benedict Cumberbatch, star of The Imitation Game, has asked for ordinary men to be given the same official pardon as Alan Turing, who was prosecuted for gross indecency in 1952....
On February 2, 2015