Happenstance
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DVD Cover Information
Actor:  Faudel, Eric Savin Audrey TautouDVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Subtitled); French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: Anamorphic, Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 97 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2002-04-23
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: New Yorker
Movie Reviews of Happenstance
Movie Review: The Eye of the Beholder
Summary: 5 Stars
Any movie that leaves me with a smile on my face from knowing I have just been had, marveling at the intricate way in which I have been had, and wanting to view the movie again to be had again -- immediately -- gets my "thumbs up" vote.
"Happenstance" seems to be a movie arguing in favor of one theme or idea. But is it? Or, more precisely, is it saying that that one idea is always positive?
On her morning subway commute to work, a girl (Audrey Tautou) encounters a survey-taking, horoscope-reading woman. The girl gets off the subway wondering about the horoscope that has just been read to her. And we wonder, too. As the movie continues, we see example after example of "coincidence" (or is it "synchronicity"?), examples that draw ever larger concentric circles, gathering larger numbers of people into a single, connected narrative. And yet, more than one story, one narrative, is involved, since each of the other people has his or her own life to be concerned with, as well. Nonetheless, they are all intertwined, and each by a different kind of "act": truly random acts (a muffin being tossed out of a car); a consciously-chosen "random" act (a shoe willfully tossed into the street); acts chosen by default (in "obedience" to self-defined "signs," such as the eating or non-eating of chocolate); and even animal actions (such as a pooping pigeon).
By the end of the movie, we are led back to the same girl, whose circumstances by now have been considrably changed. How did we (and she) arrive at this point? We (and she) arrived by a series of seemingly unrelated acts.
Watching this movie, I was reminded of the PBS series from several years ago, "Connections," which showed us how seemingly unrelated events "led to" other unintended, unanticipated consequences down the historical line: breeding larger horses for agriculture, for example, led to the use of those same larger horses for military purposes, which in turn led to . . . well, you get the idea. (Or was it the military use that came first, followed by the agricultural? I forget. It's hard to keep track. Life is that way; chicken-or-egg issues are everywhere.)
The movie, wisely, portrays the up and the down side of this phenomenon. For example, a cafe clerk says he intentionally passes on "blessings in disguise" to others to widen his circle of karma. A man who hears this clerk's philosophy tries it out, creating, oddly enough, problems for another person. However, that other person then goes on to . . . . But why give everything away?
All this unfolding litany of random but connected events is put before our eyes in gloriously filmed color, framing, and sets, with understated and effective acting, and clever and delightfully surprising plot twists. One might even say that this movie puts on our eyes a set of rose-colored glasses. But, as so many other movies remind us, we are all wearing glasses of one tint or another. Is rose any worse, say, than olive or charcoal or . . . pigeon poop?
PS Viewing this movie along with "13 Conversations About the Same Thing," which is definitley less amusing, may be an interesting experience.
Summary of Happenstance
Audrey Tautou (star of Amélie) shimmers like a born movie star in Happenstance. A woman on the morning train tells Tautou that the full moon will lead her to her soulmate; from there, Happenstance follows a marvelous interlocking series of events, in which little things (like whether or not a young museum guard eats a piece of chocolate) affect bigger ones (like whether or not an adulterous husband will tell his wife the truth). The numerous characters intersect with each other's lives, creating a web of coincidences that finally catches Tautou like a hapless fly. This could have been cloying and forced, but the writing and directing are so deft and subtle that the coincidences of Happenstance feel natural and compelling. A sweet and hopeful movie, with excellent performance all around, but Tautou's wide-open eyes leap out of her every scene, hypnotic and charming. --Bret FetzerSimilar DVD Movies
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