Is it Luck or Fate? The Role of Chance Encounters and Kismet in Storytelling

Was their meet-cute accidental? Or destiny?

There are many relationship tropes that play out in fiction. In the romance genre, for example, couples find each other and fall in love through one or more of these tropes that guide the story forward. When it comes to people coming together, whether in a deep friendship or romantic relationship, these tropes often fall into one of two categories: fate or luck.

Is it luck that two characters bumped into one another accidentally? Or was their meeting predestined somehow. It might depend on your worldview, or the authors of the story.

Either way, we took a look at some fictional relationships that were brought together by luck and chance, or fate and kismet. What are some of your favorite meet-cutes and/or fated love stories? Tell us in the comments!

Serendipity

The entire premise of the 2001 Serendipity is how the roles of fate and luck guide you to your eventual soulmate. As the title of the movie suggests, it starts with a purely chance encounter: Jonathan (played by John Cusak) meets Sara (played by Kate Beckinsale) while shopping for gloves in a New York City department store. They reach for the same pair and immediately have a spark. After spending an enchanting evening together they decide to leave their future up to fate—Sara writes her number on the inside of a book and sells it, while Jonathan writes his on a dollar bill and spends it away. The share the belief that if they’re meant to be, these items will find their way back to them. Of course, minutes they walk away from one another, doubt about this kind of fated romance creeps in. Years later, despite being engaged to other people, they can’t shake the memory of that night and set out on separate quests to find each other again. The ideas of luck and fate are at odds with each other throughout the film: was it just a stroke of luck that they met and had a lovely evening? Or was it fate all along?

Titanic

The 1997 film Titanic deals a lot with luck and chance–all the way to its disastrous end. Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio) feels like the luckiest man in the world when a hand of poker wins him a ticket on the ship of dreams–which can take him home to America. But his luck doesn’t stop there: onboard he has a chance encounter with Rose DeWitt Bukater, a wealthy woman stuck in a suffocating engagement. The meeting is lucky for a few reasons: one being that as they are from different classes, their paths shouldn’t cross onboard the ship. The second being that when Rose, feeling desperate, runs out of her dinner and straight to the back of the ship to jump, it’s Jack that sees her and saves her life, separate classes be damned.

What follows is a clandestine love affair where both Jack and Rose feel like the king (and queen) of the world for the first time in their lives. Despite their vastly different social backgrounds, they find themselves of like minds, sharing moments of adventure, passion, and defiance against societal expectations. However, their romance–and luck–is cut short when the Titanic strikes an iceberg, leading to one of the most devastating maritime disasters in history. As chaos unfolds, Jack and Rose fight to survive, resulting in an unforgettable and heartbreaking conclusion.

The Holiday

The meet-cute trope definitely existed before The Holiday, but audiences learned about the concept in the most, well, cute, way through this film. The 2006 movie is about two women who, on a whim, swap homes over Christmas and end up finding love in the process. Ivy (Kate Winslet, again!) is an English woman who swaps her country cottage for Amanda’s (Cameron Diaz) Hollywood mansion. The meet-cute is called out by an unlikely character: Amanda’s elderly neighbor Arthur, a retired, famed Hollywood screenwriter. Arthur meets Ivy on the street when she offers to walk him home. He explains that their chance encounter is a meet-cute, a device used in the best epic romantic films of his day. In the meantime, both women find love: Ivy falls for Amanda’s business associate while Amanda finds herself in the arms of Ivy’s brother–both significant meet-cutes that turn into charming romantic storylines.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

The 2004 film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind pits fate and chance against each other. In this mind-bending romantic drama that explores love and memory, Joel (Jim Carrey) and Clementine (Kate Winslet–third time’s a charm!), are a couple who, after a painful breakup, undergo a procedure to erase all memories of each other. As Joel’s memories are systematically erased, he realizes too late that he doesn’t want to forget Clementine and desperately tries to hold onto their moments together. The film weaves between past and present, blending surreal imagery with raw emotion, as it questions whether love is truly meant to be forgotten or if some connections are destined to persist. When the couple meets again by chance, they’re drawn to one another. Are they destined to find each other over and over again? Or is it a coincidence that they do?

Penny and Desmond, Lost

The entirety of the series Lost is an exploration of why a particular plane crashed on a particular island and why these particular people were on this plane–nothing seems random or accidental. Penny and Desmond’s love story in Lost is no exception. Despite their relationship being torn apart when Desmond, seeking approval from Penny’s wealthy father, disappears into a life-altering journey that ultimately lands him on the mysterious island (an unlucky event), Penny never gives up searching for him. Their love transcends time and space, which doesn’t seem that weird on this island given all the events of the series. Desmond decides that Penny is his “constant,” his anchor between time, space, and distance. One of the most impactful scenes in the series is when Desmond, trapped in a time-traveling consciousness, makes a desperate phone call to Penny on Christmas Eve—and she answers. Decidedly, this is kismet: Penny and Desmond are fated–luck could never facilitate this kind of romance.

When Harry Met Sally

Technically, Harry (Billy Crystal) and Sally (Meg Ryan) don’t meet for the first time in the 1989 movie by chance. They have pre-arranged through mutual friends to drive from Chicago to New York City together upon college graduation. It’s a planned carpool, not a meet-cute. No luck there. But they do meet by chance over the next few years: in an airport on an escalator (and moments later sitting side by side on the plane), and years later again in a bookstore. These are hardly meet-cutes, since Sally is not exactly thrilled to see Harry again (not when he made that insane declaration that men and women can never be friends on their long drive from Chicago), but they are chance encounters, right? Their lives repeatedly intersect until they actually become friends. Despite their differing views on relationships, they develop a deep friendship that slowly evolves into something more. Is it coincidental that they keep running into one another until they commit to a friendship? Or was it fate all along?

Nobody Wants This

In Nobody Wants This, a series based on the writer’s true love story, podcaster Joanne (Kristen Bell) meets Noah (Adam Brody) at a mutual friend’s party. They have a classic meet-cute: while helping themselves to refreshments, they banter and make small talk, her joking about a rabbi apparently in attendance, him feigning shock. Later, at the dinner table, Joanne is embarrassed to find out that it’s Noah who is the rabbi–not a man she incorrectly assumed was. Their meet-cute has got the best elements: flirtation, banter, and ultimately, a healthy dose of embarrassment that leads them to wanting to know more about one another. Before long, they realize their respective lives are a real obstacle to their relationship: can a podcaster who talks about sex publicly and doesn’t believe in God be with not only a Jewish man, but a community leader who is expected to marry within his faith? We’ll see if fate can handle this one.

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