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Tuesday, May 22, 2012

SERENDIPITY [2001]

Destiny ... 
With A Sense Of Humor


Jonathan: Where did you find this place?
Sara: I first came in because of the name.
Serendipity.
It's one of my favorite words.
Jonathan: It is? Why?
Sara: 'Cause it's such a nice sound for what it means: a fortunate accident.
Except I don't really believe in accidents.
I think fate's behind everything.
Jonathan: Oh, you do? Fate's behind everything?
Sara: I think so.
Jonathan: Everything's predestined?
We don't have any choice at all?
Sara: No, I think we make our own decisions.
I just think that fate sends us little signs,
and it's how we read the signs that determinas whether we're happy or not.
Jonathan: Little signals.
Fortunate accidents.
Lucky discoveries.
Like Colombus and America.
Sara: Yeah. Or Fleming discovering...
[both of them] Penicillin.
Jonathan: Fleming is his name?
Sara: Yes.
Jonathan: Or "Jonathan and the Gloves".
Sara: I don't know that one.
Jonathan: You don't know that story?
It's an old folk tale. Classic.
Our hero, Jonathan, goes out in search of black gloves.
And in the perfect act of seredipiocity or serendipaciousness,
he runs into a beautiful attractive English girl with a boyfriend.


Jonathan: So, you're gonna meet your boyfriend now, or what?
Sara: No, I think he's probably out doing what you're doing.
Jonathan: Getting a crush on someone else's girlfriend?


Jonathan: Here's the story.
 A long time ago in Ethiopia, there was this queen named Cassiopeia,
who taught she was the most beautiful woman in the entire world,
and there wasn't anybody in the kingdom who wasn't offended
by this woman's relentless vanity.
And then one day, she really screwed up and offended the gods.
I don't remember what she did and I don't remember who she offended.
But it was bad.
She crossed the line.
But anyway, Poseidon, the sea god,
punished Cassiopeia by placing her in the heavens upside down in her throne,
stuck for eternity with her skirt around her shoulders,
and all the blood rushing to her head.
And now she's just a constellation in the sky,
a bunch of English freckles in the shape of a throne.
So she made one tragic mistake.
Sara: And paid for eternity.

Sara gives him $5 and a pen: Write your name and number down.
Jontahan: On a $5 bill?
Sara: Just do it.
Jonathan: You are a strange and interesting woman.
Now what?
Sara: Wait here.
[she cross the street and buy a peppermint with that money]
Jonathan: Hey, what the hell was that?
Sara: When that $5 bill makes its way back into my hands, I'll be able to call you.
And when you hear my voice on the other end, then you'll believe in fate, won't you?

Sara: See this book?
When I got home tonight, I'm gonna write my name and number inside this book.
And then first thing tomorrow morning, I'll sell it to a used-book store.
Jonathan: Which one? [Sara shrugging]
You're not gonna tell me, you're not gonna tell me, why not?
Sara: Now, every time you go past an old bookstore,
you're gonna have to go inside to see if it's there.


I honestly think it's dangerous to use the term 'soulmate'.
It implies there's some magical element that we have no control over, like fate or destiny.
I think holding onto beliefs like that stops us doing the real work.
~Sara Thomas

The universe keeps revealing her to me, screwing with my head.
~Jonathan Trager

Dean: Why would you risk your relationship with Halley just to search for some pipe dream?
Jonathan: I'm sure that I love Halley, all right?
And maybe every time you fall in love with somebody,
it's a completely different experience, so it's a mistake to compare them.
It's like Halley is The Godfater, Part II.
Dean: She's what?
Jonathan: Godfather, Part II.
That was an incredible movie.
Might be better than the original, all right?
But no matter how much you love The Godfather, Part II,
you still have to see the original to understand and appreciate the sequel, don't ya?

You see, that is what happens when people get hooked on the New Age life.
They end up sitting at home burning candles for Mr. Right,
when Mr. Good Enough For Right Now is waiting at the corner bar.
~Eve

I've just spent the entire flight staring into the sky, thinking.
Not about my fiance, but about this mystery guy I met a million and a half hours ago.
A guy I don't even remember, except for this vague picture I have inside my head.
It was just a few seconds. A fragment, really.
And it was like in that moment,
the whole universe existed just to bring us together.
That's why I'm here.
That's why I'm gonna let fate take me wherever it wants to go.
Because when all this is over,
at least I'm never gonna have to think of him ever again.
Let's just pray he's a bald fascist who picks his nose and wipes it under the car seat.
~Sara Thomas

 Jonathan: It's not a clue. It's a sign.
Dean: What's the difference?
Jonathan: A clue is what a detective uses to find a suspect.
The receipt, the warehouse, that French guy...
Those are clues. [points to bridal shop] This is a sign.
Me never finding the book, that's a sign.
Sara never finding the $5 bill, that's a sign.
Dean: How could something not happening be a sign?
Jonathan: Maybe the absence of signs is a sign.

Dean: If you don't do this. you may never find out who Sara is.
Jonathan: Maybe I was never supposed to.
Maybe all this is just a maze designed to lead me directly back to where I started.
Which is getting married.

Do you remember the philosopher Epictetus?
He said, "If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid."
That's what you've done.
~Dean Kansky


*****

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