The Age of Adaline is a beautiful, contemplative film in which the title character faces one thing we all seem to welcome, yet fear: the passage of time.
The Age of Adaline is one movie that I'm very glad I didn't see but one trailer for, and I didn't read any prior reviews. The only things I knew about this movie was: that Blake Lively plays a character that doesn't age and she's been around a long time, and that Harrison Ford is in it. If you are interested in seeing this movie, I suggest you do the same.
What played out on screen turned out to be much more introspective that I was expecting. Putting yourself in the shoes of Adaline, can you comprehend how it would feel to seemingly live forever? To watch your loved ones grow old and pass on before your eyes? To have to say goodbye to enough dogs to fill a photo album? To never be able to live in the same place for more than ten years?
The passage of time is something I personally have struggled to face, especially over the past few years. Family members getting older, friends having babies, graduating from college, new callings in church, so many things have been present to remind me that time marches on, despite whatever our day to day actions and choices may be, no matter the lives we are creating. For a long time I've feared this, I've wanted things to last forever - and we know that some things will past this life, but for now, things we know, all things, will end.
The thing about The Age of Adaline is that it shows that while living forever may keep beauty, intelligence, and vibrancy alive and in their prime, what are those things if they're not shared? If they're not freely given? What will our lives mean, how will they feel if we, at the end of our lives having amassed the world's knowledge and wealth, had not fully lived? And by "lived", The Age of Adaline would have you believe that this means "to love, to give of ones self, to be open to all the joy, pain, and transformation that this action can bring". Could it be that perhaps the most beautiful, perfect things in life are beautiful and perfect because eventually, they will end? I think of my LDS mission, one of the most wonderful experiences of my life and I think, "would my mission be the beautiful memory it is had it never ended? Had I stayed their forever, never taking the badge off?" Of course all events and experiences eventually come to a close, and that is what gives us the sweet memories, the "June roses int the Decembers of our lives", but what about people? What about our relationships?
Without going too much into my beliefs, I believe that our relationships will extend far beyond the grave, and not only will they continue, but they'll be improved upon where one day we will see with perfect clarity who each of us is, and will become. Isn't it profound then that we are meant to live in a world - creating, nurturing, cultivating these relationships - only to have the world pass away, around us?
One of my all-time favorite quotes that has forever changed my life is from the movie, Star Trek: Generations, as spoken by Captain Jean-Luc Picard (played by Patrick Stewart): "Someone once told me that time was a predator that stalked us all our lives. But I rather believe that time is a companion who goes with us on the journey and reminds us to cherish every moment because they will never come again. What we leave behind is not as important as how we've lived. After all, Number One, we're only mortal."
Thus is the core of The Age of Adaline: life is meant to be lived, people are meant to be loved, we are meant to expend ourselves fully in every sense of what it means to be human. Time is not here to stalk us, but rather here to remind us that every moment is precious, that beauty can be found in the simplest of things, that our lives are made of the small, quiet moments of transcendent beauty, understanding, peace, and love. This is why I enjoyed the movie so much, and this is why I hope you will as well.
The Age of Adaline is beautiful to look at, and a wonder to think about. The performances are top notch, including some of the very best work I've see Harrison Ford do in quite some time. Yes, it is cheesy at times (very cheesy), but I feel the film works best in it's more quiet moments, in which we see ourselves in Adaline, not because she is immortal, but because she is what we desire, and fear. It's a captivating film, if you let it be. Enjoy.
Grade: B+, ***
Ratings: PG-13 for...I really don't know why it's PG-13. There is one suggestive comment, but it's brief and fleeting. How a movie like this lands the same rating as something like Anchorman 2 is beyond me.
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