| Starring: Blake Lively, Michiel Huisman and Harrison Ford | Directed by Lee Toland Krieger

Michiel Huisman and Blake Lively play the roles of Ellis Jones and Adaline Bowman| Publicity photo

A body unrestrained by time is a dream come true for nearly anyone. But a life of eternal youth would prove to be a nightmare nobody in his right mind would wish for. Ask Adaline, whose body remains immune to the effects of time. Unlike the more comic version of this predicament in the classic Death Becomes Her, starring Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn, The Age of Adaline is a philosophical exploration of a woman’s innate desire to supersede time.

Adaline stops aging right before she turns 30 as a result of an accident, but only physically. When her ageless body invites suspicion, she tries to escape from becoming a medical project. Thereafter, she begins a life of constant change in an unchanged body. While her body remains young, her mind stores memories of loss and happiness from all the years she lost, including spending time with her only daughter. The plot unfolds with Adaline's meeting with a man and the dark shadows of her past being cast on her present. Things change forever when she meets his family.

Like The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Age of Adaline deals with magical realism — a tricky, and mostly risky, genre for any director to tackle. Only one as brilliant as David Fincher could handle that. Lee Toland makes the most of Lively’s acting abilities and Harrison Ford’s appearance but fails to move in a fashion that Fincher does.

The film is superb in terms of cosmetic value but it remains doubtful if it will be remembered for its acting or direction | Publicity photo

Lively is a familiar face; the rich, spoilt brat she played in the hit televisions series Gossip Girl made her a TV celebrity. Her portrayal of Adaline holds the viewer's attention as she grows with the character — a plus for an actor mostly known for her good looks. The film is superb in terms of cosmetic value – thanks to all good-looking faces such as Lively and her costar Huisman – but it remains doubtful if it will be remembered for its acting or direction.

The Age of Adaline is one of those movies that you feel is missing something, something you can’t put your finger on. Maybe Lively needs a little more time before she can leave her mark on the big screen. It’s also a good example of how film-making is, at the end of the day, all about the art of storytelling — and if that fails, the rest becomes meaningless.