In The Age of Adaline (2015), the age-old “fountain of youth”
leitmotif springs forth yet again. In this incarnation, Adaline is forced to
come to grips with the fact that everyone around her, including her daughter,
is aging even as Adaline herself does not. A strong electromagnetic has altered
her genes such that her cells do not divide at slower rates as they age. As she
becomes aware of the repercussions, we in turn can marvel at what may be just
decades away scientifically concerning the expected human life-span. In short,
when the film came out, scientists were already openly discussing whether death
itself may no longer be inevitable for human beings.
The full essay is at “The
Age of Adaline.”
