Film review: The Age of Adaline

A stunning film with a life-altering message about the way we think about ageing.

Imagine you would never grow old, suspended in youth forever while the world changed around you; it might seem a wonderful promise, but as Adaline (Blake Lively) discovers, the inability to age is a curse, holding her back from truly living. Born at the turn of the 20th century, Adaline suffers a freak accident at the age of 29, which freezes her body in time.

As the decades roll by, she finds herself constantly running from the past, changing identity, unable to even have  a close relationship with her daughter, who’s now an old lady. Facing a lifetime of loneliness, Adaline finds herself swept up in nostalgia. Imaginative, heartrending and beautifully shot, we guarantee you’ll find yourself looking at your grey hairs in a whole new light by the end.

Directed by Lee Toland Krieger, in UK cinemas 8 May.