"Life is lived by chapters."
— Martin Marty

There are 40 chapters in this innovative, clever, stylish, and engrossing French romantic comedy written and directed by Sebastien Betbeder. The film revolves around three characters who speak directly to the camera as they reflect on their inner lives, their experiences of love and loss, their feelings about romantic relationships and fate, their responses to other movies and pop culture (references to Judd Apatow, the TV series Survivor, and the rescue of Chilean miners).

"It is possible to move though the drama of our lives without believing so earnestly in the character that we play. That we take ourselves so seriously, that we are so absurdly important in our own minds, is a problem for us."
— Pema Chodron

Arman (Vincent Macaigne) has just turned 33. He's a former art student and works at odd jobs of no consequence. Arman is the kind of person who feels ill-at-ease at a party when someone asks him: "What do you do?" He would probably answer: "I do what I can each day I am alive." Or he might just give the person a bemused look and walk away without answering the question.

"There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving and that's yourself."
— Aldous Huxley

All of us have experienced magic moments of synchronicity: the anticipation of a call seconds before the phone rings, a chance meeting with an old friend who has just the advice we need, or a feeling of connection with a loved one miles away just as s/he is dying. Such happenings signal the hidden meanings in the universe which call us all to be as attentive as poets and as curious as detectives looking for clues.

Arman bumps into Amelie (Maud Wyler) while he's jogging, and they strike up a conversation. He is blissed out and she is not. Arman expresses his feelings of dismay as he desperately searches for her on two successive weekends but has no luck.

"Love ought to show itself in deeds more than in words."
— St. Ignatius

While Amelie is on a date with another man, they are grabbed by two thieves who take their money. After her boyfriend flees, Arman hears a scream and comes to rescue her from being raped. He is taken to the hospital after one of the assailants stabs him in the stomach.

"That's what heaven is: You get to make sense of your yesterdays."
— Mitch Albom

Hovering near death in the hospital, Arman has a close-encounter with his long-deceased father atop white clouds. Then Benjamin (Bastien Bouillon), his art school buddy who prides himself on his good health, is felled by a cerebral event in the park. He describes his helplessness lying face to the ground all night long, unable to move.

True to the mysteriousness of life, both of these young men are revived by women who bring them back to the land of the living. When he wakes from his stabbing, Arman finds a loving and grateful Amelie by his side, and after Benjamin comes out of a coma, he begins a romance with his physical therapist (Audrey Bastien). This young man is also offered guidance by his sister Lucie (Pauline Etienne) who communicates with him telepathically.

"Walker, there is no path,
you make the path as you walk."
— Antonio Machado

Arman and Amelie are two eccentrics who have a hard time sustaining their intimate relationship. When she keeps a secret from him and he finds out about it, they go their separate ways for a while. All of us, in one way or another, trip, stumble and fall in our days and doings.

In Mark Nepo's bestseller The Book of Awakening, he includes the following spiritual exercise for those who are making their own path: "Sit quietly, and imagine one aspect of yourself as you would like it to be: more loving, less afraid; more confident, less distrusting; more understanding, less critical. Breathe evenly, and without troubling yourself with how, step with your heart into the field of this growth."

"A good improviser is someone who is awake, not entirely self-focused, and moved by a desire to do something useful and give something back who acts upon this impulse."
— Patricia Ryan Madson

We live in times when people are desperately seeking security and a life with as few risks as possible. The bold ones are those who are improvising and making up their lives as they go along. Although Arman and Amelie get in trouble by winging it, they do eventually opt for an improvised life as a pathway to adventure. We wish them well and hope they enjoy the ride!


Special features on the DVD include a bonus short film: Voyage D'Affaires; dir. Sean Ellis; France, 11 min.; French w/ English subtitles; Jean Paul Clement checks into the Dolphine Hotel where a message on his cell phone causes a personal dilemma. Featuring Melanie Laurent (Inglorious Basterds, The Day I Saw Your Heart).