TCP: Serendipity In New York

This week at Tuesday Couch Potatoes, we feature films that were set in New York City.

My choice for this theme is (one of my fave) the 2001 romantic comedy, Serendipity, starring John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale. It's a very simple love story that has a lot to do with chance and opportunity.

Two strangers, Jonathan (Cusack) and Sara (Beckinsale) meet on Christmas Eve as they both try to buy the same pair of gloves at Bloomingdale's in New York City. Despite each being involved in other relationships, an instant attraction between them could not be denied. Jonathan and Sara then spent the whole afternoon together, eating ice cream, walking and talking through the streets of Manhattan and finally, ice-skating...cleverly avoiding to mention each other's names. When the day drew to a close, Jonathan asked Sara for her contact details. Sara asked Jonathan to write his name and phone number on a $5 bill, while she writes her name and number on the cover of a used copy of "Love In The Time Of Cholera". Sara believes that they should let fate decide their future and tries to convince Jonathan that if they are really meant for each other, she will find the $5 bill, with his name on it, again and he, in turn, will find the book, with her details on it.

Flash forward to seven years later and both Jonathan and Sara are engaged to be married to other people. But as the wedding days approach, both find that they are getting cold feet, thinking about each other and wondering about the what-if?

Both return to New York and go to great lengths to find each other again. However, they always just seem to miss each other. On the eve of his wedding, his fiance hands Jonathan a copy of the book "Love In The Time Of Cholera" as a groom's gift. To his surprise, the book is the one with Sara's details on. He sets off to find her.

On the other hand, Sara realises that she did not love her fiance and decides to break off the wedding. Unknown to her, while shopping in New York, she had actually already picked up Jonathan's $5 bill. As she was paying for something, she notices the bill and sees Jonathan's contact. She hunts him down only to find out that he was getting married that day. She arrives at the reception, thinking that the wedding had already ended, just to be told that the wedding had been cancelled. She was so happy and went off to search for Jonathan again.

Jonathan and Sara finally meet up at the ice skating rink where they went on that first night that they met. And both knew right there and then, that it was serendipity.