great movie - what IS chance?

Rating: 9/10 (7 September 2006)

Allen is at his best here, and while at the narrative level it is similar to the Martin Landau sub- plot from Crimes and Misdemeanors, it is primarily concerned with the relation between chance and fate - which is always at stake in tragedy, both in Opera, but especially in Greek tragedy (Sophocles is, of course, directly mentioned in the film, and there is also "Mighty Aphrodite"), So, I am a little surprised so many people reviewed the film without mentioning chance, and how it is played with in the film. It is not chance that the lovers meet again, it is his character leading him to search her out. Then, at the end (spoiler coming!) with the ring playing th opposite role we expected, the ball goes back into the other court, so to speak, and it appears that chance played a much larger role than the film led us to believe was Allen's own belief for the majority of the film. Brilliant, masterful, amazing, playful and wonderful twist - far better than any simple "plot twist" could ever be.
Also, there are lots of class issues at play (with the interplay between character/fate and chance at the heart - why do poor people stay poor? Is it chance? etc) - with the film they go to see early on being explicit in raising this issue - The Motorcyce Diaries - I wonder what Allen is saying, or, trying to get us to consider on this interrelation between class and fate and chance?