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Best movie of this year hands down!

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

This whimsical film had the misfortune of being released at the same time of the highly popular "Amelie", both having the wonderful Audrey Tautou playing the central role. Laurent Firode, the talented director made one of the most enjoyable films that have come out of France in recent memory.The film deals with chance, as its English title indicates. The French title makes reference at how butterflies wings can create chaos over the Atlantic as they fly, as well as hurricanes in the Pacific, something not to be believed just by looking at these colorful insects. From the start, the director interlaces all the characters one sees in the film and how each has a connection to the other, something that is hard to imagine, but in the film's context seems to work well.A chance meeting at the metro sets the tone for the film. Irene, who is going to work, is asked by the woman sitting opposite her to tell her what her Zodiac sign is and proceeds to read from her paper. Irene, it seems will cross paths and will find her soul mate that same day. After Irene leaves the train, the quiet young man seated next to the woman tells her he has the same birth date as Irene. It seems they are destined to one another from the start, but alas, they will not reconnect until the last frame of the film.Audrey Tautou is wonderful as Irene. Faudel, who plays Younes, doesn't have a lot to do until the end, but he shows he has a presence and plays well his part. The talented young cast makes a valuable contribution to the success of the film, which is as light as butterfly wings.We look forward to future films by Laurent Firode because he appears to be a director with the heart in the right place and an ear to the way humans are connected.

The first time I saw this film I wasn't entirely overwhelmed, but I did like it well enough to watch it again almost immediately. Thank goodness for that, because I've probably seen it four times now and each time I seem to see what translates to an almost entirely different movie. From numerous observations, my single most unexpected discovery is the fact that, along with the primary cast members, every single secondary character interacts in a minimum of two of the multiple, and seemingly unrelated, situations that are taking place.In terms of a film with a story line that's nearly impossible to absorb in one sitting, I compare this to the 1985 flick "After Hours", which was directed by Martin Scorsese and is still one of my all time favorite comedies. Don't misunderstand though, while "Happenstance" is successfully comedic, romantic and dramatic, its primary function is based on the uncharacteristic cinematic element of coincidence. Oddly enough, on an initial basis, coincidence may be its most difficult trait to fully distinguish.Hats off to those of you who were able too fully grasp the entire scope of intricate relationships and interconnecting roles of these characters in only one viewing session. However, if you've only seen it once I tend to believe that, like my first impression, you simply aren't aware of the degree to which they exist.This may explain, at least in part, some of the commentary I've read that sum this up as a pretentious version of a poor man's "Amélie", (not the first of actress Audrey Tautou's more recent works to be accused of this). First of all, I'm still not exactly sure how to define the term pretentious in relation to a movie. Secondly, while subtle similarities do exist between these two films, they are far exceeded by their differences. Unfortunately, comparisons to her role as Amélie may be an unfair curse that haunts Tautou until she's completely successful in making a distinctive mark in other areas, as she began to do in the 2002 film "Dirty Pretty Things".In my opinion, this is an all around success for writer & director, Laurent Firode's. The script is filled with creative energy and his directorial effort was enhanced greatly by a superb cast. Just remember, it's a very rewarding experience when you, yourself, learn to make an educated hypothesis to determine the movies that you're most likely to enjoy. From there, it's up to you to decide, without relying on the feedback and criticism of others, whether or not you really liked it.

The movie has one nude scene: A man sitting on the edge of the bed, with his exposed genitals smack dab in the middle of the screen. It is quite a long scene. What was the point? I almost think it was meant to be funny but we were watching it with my mother and it wasn't funny to have THAT staring at us for what seemed like a full minute.The movie is cold. None of the characters are even likeable. Audrey Tatou is cute, of course, but her character is an unhappy girl. I really would not recommend this movie. I had expected it to be charming and fresh but it was depressing. I wondered if the director was from a very upper crust, educated French family and he looks down on these characters.

How do you spell "sux" in French? How about "snore"? Even "Magnolia" was better than this tripe (another French delicacy, by the way) and it was about 3 hours too long. But that's another topic for another day. PS if you see this just to see "Amelee" (Audrey Tautou) forget it > she's only onscreen for about 1/2 an hour.