Los Angeles Times

‘Adaline’ a stylish affair through ages

Blake Lively and Michiel Huisman turn the romance into more than a series of strange coincidenc­es.

- BETSY SHARKEY FILM CRITIC

“The Age of Adaline,” starring a grown-up “Gossip Girl” Blake Lively and Michiel Huisman, one of “Game of Thrones’ ” resident heartthrob­s, is a sweeping romance beautifull­y wrapped in classy couture and slightly suspect in the way it uses metaphysic­s to manipulate matters of the heart.

Not “An Affair to Remember,” mind you, but a welcome change from the Nicholas Sparks brand of mush that has overtaken the hearts-and-flowers corner of movieland.

Directed by Lee Toland Krieger with an eye to making the most of Lively’s refined beauty, the script concocted by screenwrit­ers J. Mills Goodloe and Salvador Paskowitz is a bizarre blend of smart, stupid and self-aware. Which means it doesn’t use its fine cast enough or misuse them too badly. There are especially affecting turns by Harrison Ford and Kathy Baker as a long-married couple shaken by strange coincidenc­es.

Strange coincidenc­es are in fact the hallmark of this film. It begins in San Francisco with a thoroughly modern Adaline Bowman (Lively) picking up her new identity papers including a new name, Jennifer Lawson. It’s all very hush-hush, with the sense that “Casablanca” esque intrigues might be in the offing. There’s something very 1940s about Adaline’s look, cinched trench coat, cloche hat. And you really can’t say enough about the look.

In “Adaline,” clothes do much to make the movie. Costume designer Angus Strathie, who shared an Oscar for his work on “Moulin Rouge!,”

does an exceptiona­l job of creating a wardrobe for Lively that moves seamlessly and exquisitel­y across more than 100 years of changing styles while remaining distinctly Adaline’s. Chief hair stylist Anne Carroll and head of makeup Monica Huppert are flawless as well.

Not long after Adaline’s brief encounter with the young document forger, there’s a flashback to 1906, where the story really begins. This is when her charmed life starts unraveling. The back story is mostly transmitte­d through picture postcard imagery, her handsome engineer husband’s untimely death, the griefstric­ken young widow skidding off the road in a freak snowstorm. Which requires another detour to mention the gently aged sensibilit­y caught like lightning in a bottle by cinematogr­apher David Lanzenberg and production designer Claude Pare. Rob Simonsen’s lyrical music accompanie­s all this beauty.

Now for the lightning. The car is soon submerged in frigid waters, Adaline’s heart stops, but a bolt of lightning straight to the heart revives her. And the very same special jolt that restarts her heart stops her aging. Before there is time to contemplat­e this nonsense, a rather wry and whimsical narrator (Hugh Ross) explains that the discovery of this particular phenomenon is still to come — i.e., if we don’t understand it’s because science isn’t quite there yet.

Like the script’s guardian angel, Ross’ very chummy voice resurfaces throughout the film to ease us past other unexplaina­ble events. As a contrivanc­e to cover up plot issues, it serves.

What soon becomes clear is that aging is as much the issue that “Adaline” turns on as love. It’s an interestin­g idea to use romantic attraction as the way to examine the downsides of eternal youth. Love for Adaline gets complicate­d quickly since the “growing old together” is impossible. With a few exceptions, she simply avoids it.

In contrast, Adaline’s relationsh­ip with her naturally aging daughter comes easily. We spend the most time with Flemming as a 70-yearold played by Ellen Burstyn (Izabel Pearce plays her at 5, Cate Richardson at 20). Burstyn and Lively do a good job of making their exchanges feel like the typical back and forth between mother and daughter, despite the disconcert­ing visual dissonance.

While we expect Burstyn to handle dicey situations with ease, Lively is the surprise. The actress makes Adaline’s careful way of talking, the slightly stilted phrasing of someone determined not to give away too much, work. And when certain scenes allow Adaline to relax — live and love as it happens — Lively handles the change subtly.

And what about the love story? Before Adaline can take her new identity and run, there is a glam New Year’s Eve party, a tradition for the ageless beauty. A chance encounter with a dashing young man changes everything. Ellis Jones (Huisman) is so taken with Jennifer Lawson, he tracks her down, makes an altruistic donation to the library where she works and woos her with excellent early copies of a few literary treasures.

Ellis won’t go away, and for once — well, for the second time as it turns out — she thinks about trying the truth. While she decides when to share her secret, there are the kissy montages and a fateful trip to meet Ellis’ family. William (Ford) and Kathy (Baker) are his parents, an encounter that comes late in the film but with a delicious twist that sets the stage for Ford to remind us how wonderfull­y vulnerable and introspect­ive he can be when the role calls for it.

Whether you’re smitten by this romantic drama or not, like everything else in “Adaline,” even the tears are lovely to look at.

 ?? Diyah Pera Lionsgate ?? MICHIEL HUISMAN and Blake Lively’s characters hit it off despite their unusual age difference in “The Age of Adaline.”
Diyah Pera Lionsgate MICHIEL HUISMAN and Blake Lively’s characters hit it off despite their unusual age difference in “The Age of Adaline.”
 ?? Diyah Pera Lionsgate ?? MICHIEL HUISMAN’S character is smitten by Blake Lively’s, but her secret might end their romance.
Diyah Pera Lionsgate MICHIEL HUISMAN’S character is smitten by Blake Lively’s, but her secret might end their romance.

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