A romantic fantasy because what we witness, as far as modern science and medicine can tell us, is impossible. But some of my favorite movies over the years have an impossible theme. That's why I watch movies, to be fascinated and entertained.
Blake Lively is Adaline Bowman. She is born in 1908, she gets married, and because of some atmospheric disturbances that happened years ago half-way across the globe, it is snowing in California when her "incident" happens. She accidentally runs off the road, into cold water which puts her into a suspended state for a few minutes, then when lightning strikes she is revived. All is well.
Yes, all is well but not normal. Her "incident" was in 1937, when she was 29, and it rearranged her biology in a way that she no longer aged. As she lived and moved forward to present time she still always looked 29. And presumably she would never develop a serious illness. But living as a perpetual 29-yr-old has it benefits and its disadvantages. Particularly it is hard for her to commit to any serious relationship, and she doesn't want her secret to be known to the curiosity seekers.
So the movie is really about her life with this "burden" and how she lives it. Plus a curious case of meeting up with a long-ago lover. It is a good movie, it gets you to think while it entertains. And the acting is first-rate.
SPOILERS follow: In present time (she is over 100 years old) she meets a very nice man who is enchanted with her, Ellis Jones played by Michiel Huisman. She wants to run off but she doesn't. She agrees to go with him to a family event and there she meets his dad, Harrison Ford as William Jones. It turns out she and William were lovers back in the 1960s, almost engaged but she didn't show up back then. He recognizes her and is shocked, but she lies, tells him Adaline was her mother and she resembles her strongly. But William finds a scar on her hand from back then when she cut herself and he sewed her up, he knew it was her. She had to tell him the whole story. Of course it was too late, he now in his 70s and she still 29, plus he was happily married. But it is fitting that she loves his son. The problem is "fixed" when she has another "incident" while driving away, this time it cancels the former effect, now she will age normally. She knows this when a year later we see her noticing a gray hair. Ellen Burstyn has an interesting role as Adaline's daughter Flemming.
Blake Lively is Adaline Bowman. She is born in 1908, she gets married, and because of some atmospheric disturbances that happened years ago half-way across the globe, it is snowing in California when her "incident" happens. She accidentally runs off the road, into cold water which puts her into a suspended state for a few minutes, then when lightning strikes she is revived. All is well.
Yes, all is well but not normal. Her "incident" was in 1937, when she was 29, and it rearranged her biology in a way that she no longer aged. As she lived and moved forward to present time she still always looked 29. And presumably she would never develop a serious illness. But living as a perpetual 29-yr-old has it benefits and its disadvantages. Particularly it is hard for her to commit to any serious relationship, and she doesn't want her secret to be known to the curiosity seekers.
So the movie is really about her life with this "burden" and how she lives it. Plus a curious case of meeting up with a long-ago lover. It is a good movie, it gets you to think while it entertains. And the acting is first-rate.
SPOILERS follow: In present time (she is over 100 years old) she meets a very nice man who is enchanted with her, Ellis Jones played by Michiel Huisman. She wants to run off but she doesn't. She agrees to go with him to a family event and there she meets his dad, Harrison Ford as William Jones. It turns out she and William were lovers back in the 1960s, almost engaged but she didn't show up back then. He recognizes her and is shocked, but she lies, tells him Adaline was her mother and she resembles her strongly. But William finds a scar on her hand from back then when she cut herself and he sewed her up, he knew it was her. She had to tell him the whole story. Of course it was too late, he now in his 70s and she still 29, plus he was happily married. But it is fitting that she loves his son. The problem is "fixed" when she has another "incident" while driving away, this time it cancels the former effect, now she will age normally. She knows this when a year later we see her noticing a gray hair. Ellen Burstyn has an interesting role as Adaline's daughter Flemming.