Over the weekend, I watched the movie The Age of Adaline, directed by Lee Toland Krieger and featuring Blake Lively. It is about a girl named Adaline Bowman who was born as a normal human being (on January 1, 1908), fell in love, and had a daughter. While living in San Francisco, her husband died during an accident while working on the Golden Gate Bridge, so she became a widow. One night while she was driving to her mother’s house, where her daughter was waiting for her, she drove off the road into a  small lake. Since the water was so cold, it lowered her body temperature and her heart rate to the point where it stopped. Then lightning struck the car and water, acting like a defibrillator, starting her heart. However, from the moment she woke up, her life would be changed.

Adaline Bowman would not age after her car accident. At first, it was not a big deal, but once her daughter started to grow up, there was an obvious difference between them. One day, Adaline was pulled over by a police officer and he takes away her ID because it says she's in her late 40s, when she looks like she's in her 20s. After this incident, she decides to move and begins to do some medical research in order to find out what her condition is; however, she is unable to find anything. Late one night on her way home, she is taken by a couple FBI agents who want to take her in for questioning. Luckily, she is able to escape and immediately packs her stuff and moves again. From this point, she makes a promise to change her identity and move every decade so that no one would be able to find her or find out her secret. This causes her to have to say goodbye to her daughter.

Present day, Adaline is again living in San Francisco. She is getting ready to move to a farm in Oregon, purchasing a new ID and passport Amanda packing up her belongings. It is New Year's Eve and she joins one of her friends, who is blind, to a party. This way, her friend does not know that Adaline has stopped aging, and she is surprised by the fact that younger men are always hitting on her. At midnight, Adaline steps out of the room and calls her daughter. She is then hit on again by another man who is trying to get a kiss from her. She politely rejects him and goes to the elevator. this is when yet another man, named Ellis, rushes in before the doors close. He flirts with her but she doesn't budge, once again.

The following day, Ellis finds Adaline at her work (the library), offering to donate some special edition books if she agrees to go on a date with him. After some convincing, she agrees. He takes her to some tunnels under San Francisco, where a boat was discovered. He tells her all about himself, and all she tells him is that she has a dog. As they are leaving, she somehow agrees to a second date. Adaline goes to Ellis’s home for dinner and have a good time together. The next day at lunch, Adaline’s daughter tells her about her plans to move to a retirement home in Arizona. Adaline becomes upset that she will be moving to somewhere even further away. This is when the daughter tells Adaline to stop running.

Being afraid of change, Adaline ignores Ellis’s calls, using her move as an excuse not to create any meaningful relationships with anyone. After a small rough patch (she had to put her dog down), she realizes how lonely she is and apologizes to Ellis. Ellis then invites her to his parents’ 40th anniversary party which she agrees to go to.  When they arrive, we find out that Ellis’s father was actually in love with Adaline years ago, but Adaline plays it off by saying it was her mother. The weekend is going well until Ellis’s father realizes it is actually her. She freaks out, packs her stuff, and leaves again. Ellis is so confused when he finds out the she left and goes after her. On her drive, she gets into another car accident. Again, her core temperature drops and her heart rate slows to a stop. This time paramedics use a defibrillator to restart her heart and it works. At the hospital, she tells Ellis everything. A year later, Adaline notices a gray hair meaning the second accident restarted her aging.

This film met, if not exceeded, my expectations. Ever since I saw the trailer, I was interested, probably partially because Blake Lively is in it. Also, the plot seemed similar to some other movies I had seen, centered around time and aging (like The Curious Case of Benjamin Button). However it had some aspects that made it more unique, like a scientific explanation and multiple plots. Also, I heard the movie was good from others who had seen it and I agree.

I would give this movie two thumbs up. The hair, makeup, and costumes were really well done, and the cast was perfect for the roles. My favorite aspect of the film was that there were so many different relationships between Adaline and other characters, all of which were important and interesting in their own ways. I have two points of criticism however. First, the movie is pretty predictable and the trailer gave away some of the main plot points. Second, the scientific explanation was a bit of a stretch.