30 Second Bottom Line: A young Parisian store clerk is told she will meet the love of her life on this day. The fates, and several strangers, seem to conspire to make the prediction come true.
Story Line: Irene, played by the lovely Audrey Tautou, has her horoscope read to her by a very friendly fellow passenger on the Metro. The woman assures her she is destined to meet the man she'll share her life with on this very day. Irene dismisses the prediction and goes on with her day, heading for work.
A young man on the train, Younes, portrayed by North African singer Faudel, overhears the conversation and tells the woman that his birthday is the same as Irene's, so today must be his lucky day also.
Now the comedy of errors and near encounters begins. The ensemble cast weaves a tapestry rich in characterization. Some threads are slender; other elements are more substantial. These people, who must all be under the spell of the same moon mentioned in the horoscope, unwittingly play their parts in bringing the young intended's together.
Random acts of kindness, deception and fortuity occur along the way to insure that the paths of Irene and Younes indeed do cross again before that moon wanes. A vagrant in the subway serves as the inspiration for a tall tale spun by an inveterate liar. A shoplifter seeks atonement. Two couples reassess their relationships. All the while the peripheries of various lives brush against each other.
Gradually, we begin to spot the seams where the threads are woven together. In the end, the twin horoscope lovers look skyward, their faces appear mask-like¾the happenstance of a collision of forces converging.
Tell Me More About It: The film's French title, "Le Battement D'Aile du Papillon," captures the notion that "butterflies' wings fluttering over the Atlantic Ocean could eventually cause a typhoon in the Pacific."
We are all¾everything and everyone¾interconnected.
Audrey Tautou's face lends itself to fantasy; remember her from "Amelie." Laurent Firode makes his debut as a feature film director with "Happenstance." The mastery and humor with which he tells this complex story, while allowing the audience to discover its little coincidences along the way, is wonderful. His attention to the smallest detail often carries us from one development to the next¾extremely important in a circular tale like this.
DVD