Serendipity

No tags. No address. Just fate.

Film Data:

Serendipity is a romantic comedy from 2001, written by Marc Klein and directed by Peter Chelsom. With an estimated budget of $28 million, the film grossed around $51 million just in the United States. The cast of the film includes Kate Beckinsale and John Cusack in the leading roles, and Jeremy Piven, Molly Shannon, and Bridget Moynahan in the supporting roles. The film was shot in 17 filming locations that include New York, California, and Ontario, Canada. Serendipity  was nominated to the Young Artists Awards and also by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Films in the United States.

Synopsis:

     Jonathan (John Cusack) and Sarah (Kate Beckinsale) meet during a Christmas shopping spree in New York city, while they are looking for gloves to give to their respective partners as Christmas gifts. They find themselves trying to buy the same pair of cashmere gloves at Bloomingdale's, and they feel an immediate and mutual attraction. 

     Both end up eating ice cream at Serendipity 3 together and then say goodbye, but soon they return to the ice cream parlor because they had forgotten something there, and they find each other again.

   












As they consider this is not a coincidence but rather a stroke of fate, they decide to go skating at Central Park. Jonathan tells Sarah that the freckles on her arm match the pattern of the Cassiopeia constellation. Jonathan feels so attracted to Sarah that at the end of the night he wants her contact information, but when Sarah writes hers on a piece of paper, it flies away with the wind. Then Sarah asks Jon to write his number on a $5 bill and she will write her name and number on the inside cover of the book Love In The Time of Cholera.  If by any chance any of the two comes into possession of the other's contact information, they are meant to be together. Each of them grabs one glove from the pair they have bought so that they can exchange them if they ever meet again.
    Several years later, Sarah is engaged to Lars (Jeremy Piven) and Jonathan is engaged to a woman named Halley (Bridget Moynahan). However, the two of them keep thinking about each other and they make efforts to find one another with the help of their best friends.
  Sarah and her best friend Eve (Molly Shannon) go to New York hoping to find some information about Jonathan. They decide to find some consolation on Serendipity. Eve is handled the $5 bill as change. Coincidentally, Eve meets an old friend at the Waldorf Astoria, and it´s Halley, Jonathan's fiancée, who is about to get married the next day. Halley invites both to the wedding.
   Sarah returns to the hotel room, where she finds Lars, who has flown to New York after her. While being with Lars, she sees Cassiopeia in the sky and decides to break with him.
   Prompted by Jonathan looking at the book every time they visit a bookstore, Halley gives Jonathan Love in the Time of Cholera as the wedding gift on the night before their wedding.
   Sarah decides not to go to the wedding and on while being on the plane for her flight home, she notices that her wallet has been exchanged with Eve's. 

    To her surprise, she finds the $5 bill that Jonathan has written years ago and she gets off the plane to search for Jon. When she gets to the hotel to try to stop the wedding, she finds a man cleaning supposedly after the ceremony is over. She is in tears until the man says that the wedding has been called off. 
  Fate will bring them again to Central Park, as as the first snowflake falls, they meet.

Comment:

   Serendipity is considered by many a lighthearted comedy. It was conceived mainly to entertain. Its story is simple, but still attractive to people that want to see a simpleminded film. Shot at many locations around New York, such as Central Park and the Waldorf Astoria, the film also portrays New York as a dream city where love and happy accidents (which is the meaning of "serendipity") can actually happen.
    Serendipity can be considered a mainstream American comedy, where the protagonists are successful and want to live to the fullest their American dream. Who can get married at the Waldorf Astoria? Not too many, I can assure you, but this movie makes it possible.   As to the cinematography of the film, the director of photography is very aware of depth of field to highlight the protagonists' torment trying to find each other and thinking about each other. Many close-up shots put the protagonist on the foreground and the other characters on a blurred background. The director wants to emphasize that nothing else is more important than their mutual attraction and their story of love and fate. I personally love the bokeh in some scenes that reminds the viewer of Christmas in New York City.

  The use of props enhance the development of the plot, as symbols for the protagonists' fate. The first important prop is the pair of gloves they both want to buy. Other relevant props to convey the meaning of the story are the $5 bill and the book Love in the Time of Cholera. The writer chose this book precisely because Gabriel Garcia Marquez tells a story of two lovers that despite all circumstances manage to get together at the end, after several years have passed. The plot of Garcia Marquez's novel was very appropriate for this film, which almost shares the same storyline.

  As to the development of the narrative, Serendipity is a perfect example that illustrates the five-part dramatic structure, with a non-ambiguous denouement. The protagonists finally get together and they are better off than at the moment of exposition at the beginning of the movie.

    In general, despite the not so convincing performances of the actors and actresses, the viewer enjoys this romantic comedy. The director manages to keep suspense all throughout the film until the end when the two lovers reunite. You will taste of flavor of "happy accidents do happen".