Happenstance

I watched Le Battement d’ailes du papillon or Happenstance (UK title) or The Beating of the Butterfly’s Wings (International title) last weekend on DVD with Troy and his parents. I really liked it. The movie is starring Audrey Tautou of Amélie fame. In fact, it was her movie right before Amélie.

In my opinion, the movie has a similar message with the book The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom (highly recommended): the things you do, no matter how small it might be, could affect other people’s lives, either for better or for worse, or in a big or small way. It’s a topic that I always find fascinating since I’m one of those people who like to wonder “what if”. If you like Amélie, you would like Happenstance. In fact, they released the movie in Hong Kong under the title Amelie 2 even though Audrey Tautou’s character’s name in the movie is Irène instead of Amélie and they’re totally different characters.

Speaking of The Five People You Meet in Heaven, I just found that it’s been made into a movie (I thought it was still in production). It’s a TV movie, apparently, so I don’t think it’s going to hit the big screen, though you might be able to catch it on DVD. I don’t know if I want to see the movie. I like the book so much I’m afraid the movie would spoil it. If you’ve read the book and seen the movie, let me know how the movie was. I’d like to know if the DVD is worth searching for.

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Categorised as Life

2 comments

  1. It is so true that things we do, though seemingly insignificant, can affect other people’s lives. I remember letting a young boy help me build a bookcase. He is now an adult and a carpenter. Who knew?

  2. I did not like the television movie at all. I’m not really sure whether that’s because the book is impossible to translate to the screen… or they just botched it up.

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