Oliver Treiner is the manager.
The cast includes Lou de Laâge, Raphael Personnaz, and Esther Garrel.
Year of production is 2022, with its premiere on 18 August 2023.
★★
In Little Coincidences, the narrative unfolds through the lens of a narrator anchored in a near-present moment, yet the central events kick off in 1989, just hours before the fall of the Berlin Wall. A seventeen-year-old named Julia makes a bold choice to leave a boarding school in Amsterdam and travel to Berlin with friends. Fate plays a decisive role: a passport slips from a bag, and a quick intervention by a friend alters the course of events. One storyline follows their arrival in Berlin, the thrill of new freedoms, and the lingering pull of the German capital. A parallel thread narrows its focus after a short time, drawing Julia back home to retrieve the passport and encounter a teacher who becomes a pivotal figure. That meeting sets a different path, sparing her from the Berlin experience and steering her life in a new direction.
The film begins a touch chaotic, yet it soon threads together two lives rich with a mosaic of situations, encounters, romances, family tensions, and decisions that carry the weight of consequence. What was, what might have been, and what may have been desired intertwine, offering a delicate inquiry into choices and their ripple effects. The storytelling approach aligns with a familiar cinematic premise, but it is carried by a graceful rhythm and a strong emotional center. The performance by Lou de Laâge serves as the anchor and touchstone for the ensemble, guiding the audience through shifting dimensions of time and self with a quiet, steady authority. The production succeeds in moving fluidly from one imagined life to another, maintaining a simplicity in its contrasts that keeps the viewer engaged without feeling overwhelmed by the mechanics of the dual timelines.
What emerges is a meditation on opportunities missed and paths taken, a reflection on how small moments carry the power to redirect a life. The film’s core strength lies in its ability to oscillate between tension and tenderness, creating a tapestry of intimate scenes that feel both lived-in and precise. While the premise nods to other works that play with parallel existences, Little Coincidences carves its own texture through character-driven scenes and a cadence that favors natural, unforced dialogue. The ensemble cast, guided by Treiner’s stewardship, navigates the emotional terrain with measured sensitivity, drawing the audience into a world where memory and possibility overlap in surprising ways. The result is a portrait of youth that is at once particular and universal, a reminder that our choices, no matter how small, can shape the paths we ultimately follow.