Der Zufall - möglicherweise

This film should be seen as one of Kieslowski's best. It is structured in three parts, each representing a different outcome of a single chance event (Tom Tykwer flat out stole this idea for his great movie Run, Lola, Run -- I'm not complaining, though). Kieslowski uses this singular situation in which the viewer realizes that where you are in life is largely due to chance to pose philosophical questions about how an individual should deal with his surroundings.

Within the context of the socialist police state of Poland at that time he asks us if we are supposed to fight the system we live in, be part of it and change it from the inside, or whether being happy in life is the one thing we are actually responsible for? In other words, is it worth fighting against everything we don't like? Is accepting it no different from selling out? Should we just try to make the most of it? Kieslowski gives us no answers, which is why this film, as well as all other Kieslowski films I have seen, seems so honest, so true to life. The only honest answer to the hard questions is "I don't know"

The film is also graced with careful, subtle characterizations, beautiful but gritty camera-work, a true comprehension of human emotions as well as of human conflict, and the style and brilliance of a man who truly understands.

I know this: Kieslowski is a master.

The recent romantic comedy 'Sliding Doors' postulated what might happen if a character caught, or did not catch, a particular train. But master Polish film maker Krzysztof Kieslowski had had this idea twenty years earlier, and in his film 'Blind Chance', he used it to much more serious purpose: to explore the interplay of chance and character in the fate of a man. At the same time, he painted a picture of Poland in a state of flux (the film was made during the period of martial law, and duly suppressed for five years); and of the way the same moral choices confront everyone, albeit in different forms. The film lacks the high artistry of his subsequent works, but his ability to distill the essence of life into minimalist drama is already much in evidence. The stark awfulness of the communist regime may have aided him in this, as evidenced by the looser, more mystical nature of his final, French-set work. But his greatest achievements, the openly political 'No End' and the perfect morality plays of the 'Dekalog', can each be seen as natural extensions of the themes of 'Blind Chance'.

In the film's final scene, an aircraft takes off, but to us, it appears as if it is sinking into the earth. The world of cinema is poorer without its director and his bleak, poetic visions.

I could not resist but add to the comments for this film since it has stuck in my memory since catching it quite unexpectedly on late night tv and thinking this was something really extraordinary. And having seen others of Kieslowski since I don't think anything for me, has surpassed this. And possibly that Sliding doors and run lola run may take from this...i But I would like to hear from Poles living in Poland. (sulac?)

What did one reviewer mean by saying that we could not understand fully? i know that is probabaly true and would like to know

Blind Chance (Przypadek, 1981) is the first of Kieslowski's films to trade upon explicitly religious themes and seems to mark the beginning of the great director's turn toward introspection and the spiritual realm that so characterizes his later work (especially Decalogue and the Three Colors trilogy). The Polish title could be literally translated "coincidence," an appropriate if possibly ironic title for a three-part film about a young man whose life course appears to be solely determined by his ability or inability to catch a train. Kieslowski has his doubts about such coincidences, for he described the film as "a description of the powers which meddle with our fate, which push us one way or another" (Kieslowski on Kieslowski, ed. Danusia Stok 113). Incidentally, this film inspired Peter Howitt's film Sliding Doors (1998) and Tom Tykwer's Run Lola Run (1998), but to my mind, Kieslowski's is a superior film. The original tends to be the best, and he is a true original.

Blind Chance was built on a fascinating and intriguing idea yet the film feels like it's made mostly for the Polish audience or at least the audience familiar with 80s in Poland. Some scenes feel too uncomprehensible, and the director doesn't even bother explaining them. The three versions being built on mainly political, religious and scientific paths is another good idea of the film but the execution falls short yet again. Overall interesting movie but it's not fun to watch or even thought-provoking as it may sound.