The Vortex of Life
Ferris Wheel Vortex, Paris, December 2022
The vortex of life - what is, versus what could have been - ce qui l’est plutôt que ce qui pourrait être. Le Turbillon de la Vie, now playing in cinemas across France, questions the role of chance, and how much a mere happenstance can alter the entire course of a lifetime.
At the end of her life, Julia - a pianist by training - reflects upon how many small occurrences tilted her existence. She thinks back to her earliest memories and meditates on all that has transpired since. The plot line twists and turns according to the multiple versions of Julia that could have existed - which one is the right version is for the viewer to determine.
This concept, the role of fate versus action, is one that has weighed on the mind of man for centuries. How much of life is determined for us already versus how much our efforts play a role in shaping it. There is the Heraclitus school of thought that posits that “character is destiny” - that one’s destiny is determined by one’s own inner character. Conversely, Aristotle evokes the concept in his De interpretatione that a law of nature is an inevitability.
Religion also contends with this question. There is the Islamic concept of kismet, or maktoub - “it is written” - tout est écrit - the idea that our life has already been written for us. That what is meant for us will reach us no matter how impossible it may appear, and that what is not meant for us will never reach us, despite our very best efforts. The anglophile version of this concept is destiny, the Hallmark Card and Twitter post edition “what will be will be.” All draw back to the notion that outside of our efforts, there is a predetermined outcome that will inevitably reach us in the end. Trust the process.
Returning to the protagonist’s central thread in the film, I reflect on the question of how much happenstance or a singular event determines the trajectory of a lifetime. How one missed plane ride, one encounter in the bookshop, one break hit too quickly at an intersection, all determined the course of her life. The various scenarios of the trajectory her life took weave in and out of the film, depending on which occurrence prevailed.
It brings me to meditate on the following - what other versions of ourselves are out there? Would those other versions give an ovation to the present version of ourselves that won out in the end?
What would have happened if we moved to one city versus another, if we took one job versus another. If that accident had never happened, and we still had that relative with us today. If we had met one person versus another - if we had taken a chance here, instead of there, de choisir une voie plutôt qu’une autre.
The idea that there are multiple versions of ourselves out there in the multiverse, and that the version we stand with today is the one who won out against all the others.
The others, mere possibilities. Whether it be due to a planned path that was always anticipated, where strength of mind and willpower won out despite all the odds. Or a singular, happenstance event that, within a few seconds, altered the entire trajectory of our lives. Where some things were planned, while others were written.
