The Age Of Adaline
Lee Toland Krieger
The story: After surviving a car crash at the age of 29 in 1937, Adaline Bowman (Blake Lively) realises that her body stopped ageing. To keep this a secret, she has had to reinvent her identity every so often in order not to raise suspicions. She is unable to form lasting relationships and her aged daughter (Ellen Burstyn) worries about her. But when Adaline meets the charming and determined Ellis (Michiel Huisman), her defences start to crumble.
The Age Of Adaline is about a woman who is concerned about the fact that she cannot age. Clearly, this is a fantasy of the highest order.
Maybe we should not be so quick to judge. After all, even a beautiful, ageless woman has plenty to worry about. She is cursed to have dalliances with good-looking men over the years but can never commit to anything deeper.
Poor thing.
Poor us, actually. Given a headlining role, Lively, alumnus of young adult soap Gossip Girl (2007-2012), is not charismatic enough to command one’s interest in Adaline’s unusual plight.
Neither is the appearance of rising star Michiel Huisman, currently seen on the fantasy blockbuster series Game Of Thrones, enough to raise the pulse of the movie.
They meet at a new year’s eve party at a hotel. He looks like a dapper tuxedo-ed model for a Chanel commercial and she looks like she has stepped out of a Gucci ad with her tastefully sexy gown. He is charming, he is rich and he cooks for her. She is evasive and unencouraging – and beautiful all the while.
In fact, Huisman was cast as Chanel’s leading man in a video for its classic No. 5 scent and Lively was the face of Gucci Premiere perfume. It seems appropriate then that the romance between the two here is as pretty and shallow as an ad campaign.
Director Lee Toland Krieger (Celeste And Jesse Forever, 2012) strings out the blah relationship for a good hour before Harrison Ford shows up as Ellis’ father.
The spectre of a potentially icky relationship situation hovers over the movie but, thankfully, I am spared my worst fears.
If it is fantasy you are hankering after, Game Of Thrones is a far more satisfying fix.
(ST)