Happenstance (film)
7.2 /10 1 Votes
Music director Peter Chase Duration | 7/10 IMDb Genre Comedy, Drama, Romance Writer Laurent Firode | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Release date June 21, 2000 Cast Similar movies Butterfly effect movies, Audrey Tautou movies, Dramas | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Happenstance clip le battement d ailes du papillon 2000
A cleverly constructed and intricate comedy about how a subtle twist of fate can affect the lives of total strangers, "Happenstance" ingeniously tracks a group of seemingly unconnected individuals during the course of one long day. As these characters interact with one another randomly, every chance encounter bears a consequence that will later become significant, ultimately culminating in a complex pattern of narrowly averted mishaps and barely grasped opportunities.
Contents
Happenstance is a 2000 French film directed by Laurent Firode and starring Audrey Tautou and Faudel. The film is also known as The Beating of the Butterflys Wings, a literal translation of its original French title, Le Battement dailes du papillon. The title references the Butterfly effect from chaos theory which is quoted at greater length by one of the characters in the film.
How, thanks to what's known as the "Butterfly theory" (a random series of unlinked events), can a young woman and a young man meet?
Synopsis
Audrey Tautou plays shop assistant Irene, who on the way to work takes a seat on the Paris metro opposite an older woman who tries to interview her for a marketing survey. On hearing that Irenes birthdate is 11 March 1977, the woman reads her horoscope : today shell meet her true love, but she must be patient. After she leaves the metro, a young man sitting alongside (Faudel) tells the older woman he was born on the same day and asks her to read the rest of the horoscope.
The film then traces a range of characters of diverse ages, ethnicities and social status whose daily lives intersect with Irene and Faudels in a variety of ways and come together at the end of the day. Seemingly trivial events�such as the throwing of stones or a shoe, the theft of a coffeemaker, a pigeons consumption of a macaroon�determine the decisions and lives of the many characters.
Commentary
The film relies heavily on the notion of chance and happenstance interacting in unpredictable ways on peoples lives. It is a film whose action/plot appears heavily driven by the underlying chaos theory that gives the French film its title.
References
Happenstance (film) WikipediaHappenstance (film) IMDb Happenstance (film) themoviedb.org