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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Happenstance
Mixed or average reviews
Based on 21 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 3 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Romance
Written by: Laurent Firode
Directed by: Laurent Firode
Release Date:
Theatrical: November 2, 2001
DVD: April 23, 2002
Running Time: 97 minutes, Color
Origin: France
Language(s): French (with English subtitles)
Summary
RATING: R for a scene of nudity
Starring Audrey Tautou, Faudel, Eric Savin, Irène Ismaïloff, Eric Feldman, and Lysiane Meis
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. (Lot 47 Films)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: My First Wedding
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Washington Post Stephen Hunter
Stars Audrey Tautou, gaminelike, waiflike, vivid and completely adorable.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas
It brims with the charm, wisdom and light touch that have endeared French films to international audiences for more than a century. It doesn't hurt that its star is "Amelie's" Audrey Tautou.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Dana Stevens
Perhaps it's all a bit too much, and perhaps it doesn't add up, but the loose ends give the picture a jaunty, improvised feeling that, while it leads to some confusion, is ultimately part of its whimsical charm.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
The movie is funny, but it's also touching and poetic -- and Bertin's scenes are devastating.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
In Happenstance, fortune doesn't just smile -- it schemes and tricks and zigzags, forming an urban road map of fate's detours.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
Happenstance represents an intriguing meditation on the unseen forces that no one can escape.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Michael Dequina
There's no doubt that sheer mechanism propels Happenstance, but the numerous characters and storylines flow and converge in a gracefully unpredictable and witty manner.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Leighton Klein
It has every mark of inspiration by imitation.
New York Post V.A. Musetto
That is not an original idea, for sure. But the ensemble cast -- especially Tatou as a 24-year-old store clerk named Irene -- is personable and the Parisian ambiance is catching.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Michael Atkinson
Being French, the film at least has indelible details -- something a Hollywood remake would fix but good.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Paul Malcolm
Fate plays both prankster and deliverer in Firode's never-too-clever scheme, buoyed, like his often-winsome images, by romantic fancy.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Hank Sartin
Like several recent films, Happenstance draws on chaos theory as an inspiration, musing on the slim difference between random chance and fate and trotting out the old chestnut about the flapping of butterfly wings causing a tsunami.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Marta Barber
Ultimately feels like tiny films glued together by events that often test plausibility. The idea wears thin soon, and some of the characters and their tales get lost in the unstoppable domino chain.
Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
The movie has magical moments, but it's too contrived to gather much comic or dramatic power.
Read Full Review >New Times (L.A.) Jean Oppenheimer
Viewers expecting another enchanting, whimsical tale of high energy and mischievous spirits will be sorely disappointed.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones
A clever idea that never stretches beyond just that -- a caterpillar that never blooms into a butterfly.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
Tautou seems tired, mean-spirited and utterly devoid of that Audrey Hepburn-like charm that made her the international movie find of 2001.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 9.3 (out of 10) based on 3 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
George M. gave it a10:
This is probably the best foreign film that i have seen in years, this movie renewed my love of Paris and all that dwell within it, thus my moving to Paris in the fall. Good day.
Chad S. gave it an 8:
"Happenstance" features the granddaddy of meet-cutes. When destiny catches up to Tautou and Faudel, their ensuing recognition of each other elicited a laugh out from me that was audible and sustained. Mind you, this is the latter of the two laughs. Director Laurent Firode does a brilliant job of setting the stage for, as I've already mentioned, the granddaddy of all meet-cutes. I got off the bandwagon of "Amelie" backlash after seeing "Happenstance". Audrey Tautou is a star.
