The 2022-2023 Film Journal Entry #16: "The Age of Adaline"

2022-2023 Film Journal Entry #16

by Xavier E. Palacios

"The Age of Adaline"

3.5 out of 5

Directed by Lee Toland Krieger

Rated "PG-13"

In 1937, when Adaline Bowman (Blake Lively) is twenty-nine, a widow, and a mother, a car crash and accompanying phenomenon makes her stop aging. So that her immortality is never discovered by the wrong people, Adaline is forced on the run, to have a distant relationship with her daughter, Flemming (Ellen Burstyn), and change identities every ten years. On New Year's Eve in 2014, at one-hundred-and-seven years old, Adaline, currently "Jennifer", is a respectable, content, yet very solitary woman. Then, she meets Ellis Jones (Michiel Huisman), a kindly entrepreneur who wins her heart, despite her determination to never love again and avoid the inevitable agonies caused by living forever amongst mortals. Introducing her to his parents and sister, Adaline meets Ellis' father, William (Harrison Ford), who, in the 1960s, was the man she fell in love with and ran away from for the same reasons she fears getting closer to Ellis. Forced to see the effects of her actions on William's life while continuing to grow attached to Ellis, Adaline is forced to decide whether she wants to keep running away from or finally accept life.

Firstly, my thanks to "Mar", who runs the Discord server, "The White Lotus", an exceptionally welcoming group of folks on that website, particularly after a bad incident on a separate server made me flee the site for a time, for bringing The Age of Adaline to my attention. In a discussion about the server users' favorite films, Mar mentioned that their favorite film was this one. So, I resolved myself to see this flick sooner rather than later. A quick lesson: when someone you respect mentions a film they love, give the piece a chance no matter what. I had a friend in high school who adored Friday, which I thought was utterly abysmal (I could have a different opinion now), but I certainly remember the pleasant time I had watching the flick with him at his apartment.

Interestingly, The Age of Adaline makes me think about several stories in recent years that inadvertently revolve around a very specific theme. The final three books of Stephen King's fantasy epic, The Dark Tower. The Last of Us video game. Director Mamoru Hosoda's Belle from last cinematic year. These tales and a few others, like Adaline, are, really, about the damage one does to themselves when they reject love, companionship, and connection with others, especially when they lie about who they truly are. There is nothing wrong with solitude, of course. Isolation, on the other hand, is not the same, and putting up emotional walls around oneself may seem okay but inevitably destroys the people who built them.

Like Pink Floyd once sang in their album, The Wall, these constructs get rebuilt and torn down again and again, a constant battle; "Isn't this where . . . we came in?" But the fight is a worthy one. Love can be healing and redemptive, but being one's true self in the real world is especially frightening. Borderline petrifying. Oftentimes, I have found that choosing love and being honest about my personal identity has saved me and others. Hence why I am being truthful about what I am in a public text. I am trying to act upon the lessons I have learned. Understandably, those stories have meant a great deal to me in my adult years for showing me such light.

However, in this film's most compelling plotline, Adaline further explores the concept by examining the harm one can cause other people by rejecting love. I have never considered this possibility before. When one lies about who they are and runs away from companionship, they can hurt more than just themselves, and the accompanying guilt Adaline feels is worse than what she would have endured had she bravely stayed with William. This part of the story reminded me of a memory.