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Adaline is 100-something years old, and her daughter appears to be 90 years old. Well, Adaline gave birth to her in her mid 20's, and to be precise, she should be 80.

Anyways, Adaline's old lover's son (Ellis) is probably in his late 20's/early 30's. And Adaline has stopped aging at 29, which is pretty close to Ellis. Her old lover is said to be a few years younger than her and still, his son is so young. Also, Adaline could make him believe that she is the daughter of her own old self.

Then,

how can Adaline's real life daughter be so old?

I can't make sense out of this. Why is it this way? The age pattern of the actors and actresses is inconsistent. It seems to me that the filmmakers have exaggerated some things.

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    "her daughter appears to be 90 years old" I think that's key. Do they actually state the daughter's age in the film? Are you sure the daughter isn't actually 80? Or in her late 70's? FYI, the actress who plays Adaline's daughter was 83 when the film came out, so is pretty close to age accurate. And the lover would be about 50 when he fathered the son - that's not implausible.
    – Tim
    Commented Mar 7, 2017 at 19:45

1 Answer 1

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Adaline was born on 1st January 1908 and so would have been 107 years old (assuming the film is set in 2015) and stopped aging in 1937 at the "age" of 29.

Adaline is 100-something years old, and her daughter appears to be 90 years old

As you say, she was in a her mid-twenties (lets say 24) when she gave birth so her daughter would have been born in 1932 and would be 83.

EDIT: On watching the movie, Adaline was married in September 1929 (age 21) and gave birth 3 years later...so age 24 as previously assumed. Nailed it!

Ellen Burstyn WAS born in 1932...so she's age-appropriate.


Ellis Jones's father (William), the jilted lover is played by Harrison Ford was born in 1942 and so in 2015 was 73.

It's stated that Ellis's parent are celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary and although we do not know how old they were when they got married, their late twenties / early thirties would not be out of line.

William met Adaline in England when he was a soldier studying medicine overseas so that would tend to match up with late 20's/early 30's allowing for college, medical school and time abroad before returning to the US with Adaline.

EDIT: In the movie he claimed to have been in his 2nd year of med school and aged 26. Thus, the character is at least 66 years old and allowing time to meet, court and marry his wife probably nearer 70. Thus Ford's real age would not be out of line with the supposed age of William.


Adaline's old lover's son is in his late 20's.

Ellis is played by Michiel Huisman who was born in 1981 making him 34 in 2015...which would match up, more or less, with his parents being married for 40 years.

It all hangs together quite nicely allowing, perhaps, for a couple of years leeway here and there.

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  • Her old lover's age does not make sense. Do you really think he is 10 years junior to Adaline's daughter? Commented Mar 8, 2017 at 19:51
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    Why not? What does William's age have to do with her daughter? We know the daughter is 83...and simple math says that William must be at least 66 since he's been married for 40 years and didn't get married until after Adaline left him.
    – Paulie_D
    Commented Mar 8, 2017 at 20:30
  • He surely can't be 20 years younger than Adaline herself. And how can she possibly like someone who is even younger than her own daughter? Commented Mar 9, 2017 at 15:12
  • He's not 20 years younger than Adaline. She is 107...he's somewere around 70...we've established that. As for her liking someone younger than her...that's just love....it doesn't care about age.
    – Paulie_D
    Commented Mar 9, 2017 at 15:17
  • You don't understand the premise this question is based on: Adaline and William are of similar ages. When Adaline met him, he was her age. Didn't you see that in the movie? Anyways, granted that he is 30 years younger, he would not have been born when Adaline is supposed to meet him. Adaline is 18 when she met him. It's mentioned in movie. So, according to your calculation, William wouldn't have had been born yet then. Commented Mar 11, 2017 at 18:51

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