The Age of Adaline

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. (07/26/2015)

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% (08/05/2015)

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. (12/16/2015)

An unconventional romantic film that boasts a particularly original premise and a likeable cast featuring Blake Lively, Harrison Ford, Kathy Baker, and Ellen Burstyn. It would certainly be wonderful if we could stay "forever young", but nature has done it justice and one of her laws is natural aging, so there is no danger of watching our loved ones and friends pass away without aging a day. What I liked about the film was how the different time periods in Adaline's life were interwoven (not just) through flashbacks, as well as the incorporation of the comet motif. In short, a nice and sweet film that is a nice pleasant of drama, romance and mystery. (09/07/2015)

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. (07/28/2015)