The Age of Adaline

After a long time, a good quality romance that won’t be forgotten and might become a genre reference, such as the The Notebook. Audio-visually beautiful, bordering on slightly tacky, but the sophisticated storyline and an atmosphere of the fateful and inevitable passage of time in a human life make it into a love story that will tug at your heartstrings. The “science fiction” element that starts the story is not jarring, but rather gives the film a dreamy storybook charm. The film would have been even better with a young Meryl Streep, but Blake Lively’s performance is enough and her feminine fragility and beauty adds the right romantic charm. A good role for Harrison Ford is also something nice to see these days. Almost five stars. (31/07/2015)

Nicholas Sparks for adult female viewers and male viewers with nostalgic inclinations and a weakness for old things. We don’t often see a film that gains importance by pretending to be an adaptation of a novel. A branching narrative, a lot of characters, numerous flashbacks and an omniscient narrator with a very bookish form of expression are not the most appropriate means of making a smoothly and naturally flowing romantic film. Definitely not in the hands of two neophyte screenwriters with outsized ambitions. The Age of Adeline could have been an excellent melodrama in the classic mould (an externally characterised, passive and suffering female protagonist, flawless characters versus the relentless passage of time, many happy and unhappy coincidences, the inability to express one’s feelings) if it had stuck to relationship issues and not tried to deal with the infinite nature of the universe and the unpredictability of fate in addition to emotional conflicts. The result is a hybrid literary-film structure with the outline of a novel and sufficiently rich content, but without a sufficiently broad thematic scope. There is no justification for the sweeping nature of the narrative and, because of that, the film has no momentum. At its core, it is basically a fairy tale, which corresponds to the slightly surreal creative style (especially the lighting of certain scenes, as well as the narrative shots with the camera hovering high above the actors’ heads). The film is visually graceful and enchanting in its naïveté, and Blake Lively gives the protagonist the proper old-fashioned flair (not only in the dresses that she wears, but also in the way that she moves and expresses herself) without coming across as artificial. However, I see her main contribution in her willingness to go against the anti-aging trend and to admit that it us unnatural to not age. It is such a praiseworthy, yet banal and so little seen presentation of things on the right scale that I want to forgive the film for its fake depth and the would-be sophistication of the structure that bears this message. 70% (05/08/2015)

The Age of Adaline has a certain supernatural air about it from the very beginning, just like Forrest Gump or The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; that’s also why it’s very pleasant to watch and it basically doesn’t have any essential flaws. The only small downside could be that although the movie came up with an interesting premise, the actual filmmaking was absolutely ordinary, to satisfy anybody’s taste. In any case, there’s not many high-quality movies of this type and they’re always a joy to watch. Plus, I was also very surprised by Blake Lively who played a role the entire movie stands or falls by – and she was absolutely perfect. (28/07/2015)

It started off really nicely, I could even get past the fact that Ellis was a bit of a jerk, or the awful stalker stuff like in Twilight, but then it lost its charm. Despite all the beautiful imagery and settings, despite the pleasant narrator's voice, it ended up being pretty dull and my enthusiasm for that strong beginning cooled down quite a bit. Basically, everything that happened from the moment she crashed the car around was worthless. A nice romantic flick, kind of a weaker The Makropulos Affair that turned out to be something completely mediocre in the end, even though it had its chances to stand out. Not to mention that I actually didn't wish it for the central couple – not like that, not so hastily. In the end, I thought she loved his dad more, but that was probably because Ford is just a much better actor than Huisman. (16/12/2015)

A romantic drama with a very good plot. I really liked the "ordinary" explanation of agelessness. Blake Lively is excellent and Harrison Ford is a joy to watch. (19/01/2016)

Probably one of the best films of the year. Filmed as if in a light haze of 1990s nostalgia and sincerity, incredibly charming and restrained, and with Blake Lively brilliantly hitting the mark. It is devoid of unnecessary gloss and superfluous dialogue, everything is exactly as it should without any unnecessary scenes, filled with buckets of emotions where everyone can take something away. Entertaining, heartfelt, easily relatable for almost all audiences, with a thought-provoking theme about how painful it is to live forever as the only one, and the sacrifices and complex and questionable life decisions and situations such a person must undergo. (26/07/2015)

A modern romantic fairy tale with the breathtaking Blake Lively, a story that is easy to understand and with a very interesting and also original role for Harrison Ford (not including the fact that his character’s name is Jones and he is a doctor). I also liked the representative of Ford's “younger version" - tell us, Mrs. Ingruber, what happened back then? (02/08/2017)

A very, very beautiful film. A smart tale about the fate of love and inevitability in human life that grabs you by the heart not only with a sweet story that incorporates a sensitive sci-fi plot, but above all with its magical atmosphere of fatefulness and the simple but compelling, and very distinctive narration. The result is not overly sweet yet tasteful, and very, very touching. Plus the gorgeous Blake Lively and the eternally likeable Ford. 85% (25/11/2015)

I've already mentioned a couple of times that, despite my cynical approach to life, I sometimes do have a romantic moment and Adaline was right on time for it. Despite minor issues, I enjoyed the film and had a good time with it. Blake Lively was a great choice for the lead role. She’s really nice to look at, and is also a great actress, which is a perfect combination. The story wasn’t exactly original, but the creators handled it in a way that suited me perfectly. (03/11/2018)

I really liked the whole idea, but unfortunately towards the end, it lost a little bit of its momentum for me and it was too much in line with what is expected from an American romantic movie. There were no surprises and I think the whole potential of the idea wasn't utilized. Nevertheless, it is one of the most beautiful romances I have seen from the United States in recent times. (03/08/2015)

By its very nature, it's hard to translate a subject like this into reality with a straight face. Anyway, I appreciate the fact that the main character's plight comes first and foremost and there is a rather convincing subversion of the ingrained stereotype that it's actually great to be young all the time. The development of this motif is actually quite strong and the conflict with the character played by Harrison Ford is interesting. In the end, it's exactly between 3 stars and 4 stars, as I somehow couldn't shake the feeling that the conclusion was premature and not entirely convincing. A typical example of a film whose rating I would (probably) change downward after a second viewing. After the first viewing, it's a shaky 4 stars, especially for the novel story and the reasonably imaginative narrative style. (10/04/2020)