Happenstance
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Movie Reviews of Happenstance
Movie Review: How individual choice affects the lives of others
Summary: 5 Stars
In the middle of Happenstance, aka Le Battement d'Aile du Papillon, (The Fluttering of a Butterfly's Wings), the bald-headed man of destiny, a mysterious man gifted with precognition, tells a man throwing pebbles and hitting a weird metallic sculpture in a park, to deliberately miss it. He does. What happens? Richard, a man sitting nearby at the bench opposite, decides not to tell his lover that he's told his wife about them. The point is that every insignificant action, however small, affects the course of everyone else, with people choosing one of an infinite number of choices, like a parallel universe where each universe is different because of a variation in choice. Does this mean then that we can change history, or that we can shape it? It all goes back to chaos theory, with that famous example of how a butterfly's wings fluttering eventually cause a hurricane.Laurent Firode's creative and philosophical debut film examines that theme via a plethora of characters, who affect the destiny of other people without knowing it. Take Richard. He has decided to leave his wife and child and settle down with his lover. Trouble is, he's indecisive and weak to the point that he makes his decisions based on what other people do. At a cafe, he looks at Luc at a nearby table and decides if Luc eats his chocolate, he will tell his wife he's leaving her. He might as well ask someone to flip a coin for him, but he's too afraid to do that.
And Luc, one of the more interesting people here, is a man of thirty, still being cared for by his mother, immature and a man of inaction. He just sits there at a metro bench as a bum collapses from illness. A Moroccan or Algerian berates him for not doing anything and is arrested for attacking a policeman at that subway. He's taken before Luc's mother! Luc though, has a penchant for being inactive, and later, telling people he did positive things other people did, or reversing roles so that he's the more important person.
Audrey Tautou, star of Amelie, doesn't have much screen time, but her salesclerk character, Irene, is a more brooding character, whose day, which begins with a woman telling her horoscope, that she will meet her true love. However, something happens to her involving a red-jacketed man who not only meets Luc's grandmother, returning a broken coffee machine, but who has previously met Luc and Richard. Unknown to her, a young Algerian business owner has the luck to have been born the same day as Irene. And guess what having the same horoscope means for the two?
Think of many dots, each representing a person, and lines that connect the dots. One can thus form an indirect link from Person A to Person B, whether the path be two degrees of separation, A-C-B or seven A-H-E-L-C-G-F-B.
But it makes one wonder is it choice or luck that shapes one's life? Firode makes it clear that predestination is not involved, but that it's an individual choice that shape that individual's destiny and that of others, like a rock thrown into a pool--the larger the rock, the larger the ripples, the larger the consequences. A thought-provoking film that bears watching over and over.
Movie Review: Everything that you do will come back to you...
Summary: 5 Stars
Yes, I have to say it: "Happenstance" (the original French title is "The Beating of a Butterfly's Wings," referring to chaos theory) bears certain resemblances to the charming "Amélie." The most obvious comparison is that it stars Audrey Tautou, the wide-eyed innocent beauty from "Amélie." It, like "Amélie," takes place in Paris and follows the lives of a group of people whose lives are intertwined by fate. The comparison ends there. "Happenstance" is difficult to categorize: it has elements of romance, humour, quiet desperation, racism, and the dark side of human nature. None of the small coincidences ever seems forced, no matter how trivial the first event nor how grand the repercussion may be. We meet people from all walks of life: an ill homeless man, a compulsive liar, a thief, Gypsy fortune tellers, sales clerks, a cheating husband and his mistress, an Algerian looking for true love after hearing his horoscope (played by gorgeous and talented raï singer Faudel). The smallest things in our lives can determine the course of events: throwing or not throwing a pebble, dropping a crumpled newspaper ad from a pocket, a cockroach crawling into a purse, hence the chaos theory, which is explained by one of the characters in the film. It's sort of a cycle of karma, if you will. Do something good for someone, and it will come back to you. Bear them a grudge and...well, I for one will always think twice about coffees in cafes after seeing Younès' revenge. The numerous subplots can be a bit confusing at times, as can the flashbacks, but "Happenstance" is a charming film that is worth the time. French with English subtitles, 90 minutes.Movie Review: The sinuous intersections of love!
Summary: 5 Stars
The opportunities, the proper choice and the effects of this last one, remove themselves in Paris any day. A dependent, born on March 11, 1977 reads her horoscope on the way of job that auguries her she will meet the love of her life (it's full moon night) but previously she will have to raffle some little and unpleasant obstacles, when twenty lives will cross trough unpredictably due this forecast.
Once more, the fertile creative imagination and the marvellous well written script allow us to be aware the mistakenly term "coincidence" is the final outcome of a set of apparently fortuitous events that work out unconnected into a major order.
Along the way, you we will witness about many common livings and feelings of our global world.
A true artistic celebration.
Movie Review: A Good Feeling Film!
Summary: 5 Stars
This was indeed a good feeling film. A great script with all the characters linking to eachother someway...very interesting! It was a good romance comedy on the "What If's" in life. Audrey Tautou gives a very good performance in this film, along with a good cast. Audrey is a very talented young woman who has a very bright future ahead of her.
I recommend this to anyone, especially to the Amelie fans out there.
Movie Review: Simply Marvelous!
Summary: 5 Stars
I thought that this film was an artistic masterpiece! Audrey Tautou was wonderful. The film moved about smoothly, keeping the viewer entertained, amused and intrigued. The very concept of the movie really leaves the viewer thinking about the whole meaning of the word coincidence. Very French, very well done-a movie that won't easily escape one's mind!