By Zoe Smith

Ever wondered what it would be like to be a beautiful and brilliant 29 year old forever? To be able to escape the fearful reality of aging and inevitable death. Fantastic, right? Maybe not so. In The Age of Adaline, immortality is explored and exploited excellently. It is a moving and magnificent movie. WIth a slow yet almost rushed beginning it begins to smoothly combine romance, elegance, drama and unusually sci-fi. The Age of Adaline is entertaining with plot twists that will make you cry, laugh and gasp in shock all at the same time.

This movie has the  look and idea of a cliche love story, but with it’s supernatural twist it becomes exciting and compelling. The ridiculous event- where it abnormally snows, causes a car crash and forces Adaline Bowman into a freezing river, her heart stops and she flatlines for 2 minutes before she is struck by lightning, brought back to life, consequently stopping her aging process- is ordinarily beyond the bounds of possibility.  The voice over explains that the science behind this phenomanem will not be discovered till 2035. This adds humour as it obviously isn’t 2035 yet and makes for a perfect slot to include a sophisticated but fictional science explanation for her not aging. The fantasy of Adaline’s eternal youth does not seem far fetched as it is so subtle within the rest of the movie as there are no other sci-fi elements.

Blake lively does an incredible job in this movie. Playing the part of Adaline Bowman, she manages to capture the essence of a 100 year old woman while looking 29. Lively portrays loneliness well as she cannot stay in one place for more than 10 years to avoid suspicion from co-workers, neighbours, etc. Her clever acting clearly shows that Adaline is hesitant to let herself fall in love, again. When she meets her future beau, Ellis, she is content not to get too close but he is persitant and eventually she falls for him. Later in the film, Ellis takes Adaline to meet his parents and in an exciting and shocking plot-twist, the father (Harrison Ford) is one of Adaline’s previous lovers. Ford’s emotional acting, facials and dialogue perfectly execute the role of a man finding his long lost lover over 40 years later. He constantly says the wrong thing and causes upset hence his role as a the dad is played so well.

The cinematography is a stand-out. The elegant costumes seen throughout the movie make it a prettty film to watch. The actors are all easy on the eye and the setting- classic brick and wooden styled apartments in the big city- are all aesthitically pleasing. The scenes of modern day San Francisco turned into the past with a classic sepia filter nicely work together.

The truth shown behind immortality is refreshing and eye-opening. The film shows that immortality isn’t all what it’s cracked up to b and that death and aging is perhaps a gift rather than a tradegy. Adaline does not feel she can be in love as she can never grow old with them, so she fears she’ll be forever lonely. The end is predictable but satisisfying as what stopped her aging also resumed her aging, the shock of high amounts of electricity. Flashing forward a year,  Adaline discovers a grey hair and she realises she will grow old with Ellis. This moment was predicted multiple scenes earlier but was still heartwarming and concluded the movie nicely.

The Age of Adaline is a nice chnage of scenery from the usual, expected romance films with a deeper story and theme behind the reality of immortality. Although we may have seen this type of movie before, they do not compare with this because it was portrayed so well by the actors and cinematography. This movie is the perfect for a night in when you feel like watching an interesting and touching movie with friends or family.