Black Cat, White Cat: Coincidences Make "Happy Ending" Possible

The films of Emir Kusturica are inseparable from "carnival". When "Happy Ending" appears at the end of "Black Cat, White Cat" (1998), it raises the climax of "carnival": two couples unite, two grandfathers come back to life, and two archenemies become friends! This beautiful ending reminds me of a comedy by Georg Büchner (1813-1837): "Leonce und Lena".

Leonce is a prince and Lena is a princess, both enlightened and progressive young people who refuse to be puppets manipulated by others. The day before their wedding, both of them run away. Coincidentally, they meet each other on their escape and fall in love, and they get married. "From then on, the prince and princess lived happily together." It is also a genuine happy ending.

When dealing with comedic elements, Büchner and Kusturica have similarities: coincidences make "Happy Endings" possible. Coincidences are indispensable techniques in literary works, driving the plot and shaping or destroying characters. But when real-life coincidences occur, they transform into genuine fate. Such occurrences are hard to overlook. "Coincidences" have the power to render the most logical events insignificant and can even turn the unimaginable into reality. After becoming accustomed to scenarios heavily influenced by coincidences, how can we not yearn for mysterious strokes of luck?

In"Black Cat, White Cat," there is the most common character relationship construction in Kusturica's works: wise old people, idle and weak middle-aged people, and hopeful young people. This is an everyday world, and the sense of constraint doesn't lead to repression, but rather to hysterical bursts: tears or laughter are both gushing forth, accompanied by a lingering sense of melancholy. The happy ending is more of a hope than an inevitability: a strong friendship and the determination to wait for love. This kind of belief-like tenderness seamlessly embeds "coincidences" into the cracks of life. But don't expect to find depth in Kusturica's films, doubt is not his nature. He is curious and passionate, with a childlike innocence: he adds a rainbow to the colourful world.

In " Leonce und Lena," the driving force behind the coincidences is "running," blindly running. Princess Lena, upon first meeting Prince Leonce, exclaims, "I believe that some people are unfortunate, beyond help, simply because they are alive." The play is shrouded in an aura of death, and if it weren't for the fortuitous encounter between the two, they would have followed in the footsteps of Woyzeck. Both the prince and the princess are afflicted with the disease of German Romanticism, lamenting the meaninglessness of life, mocking it to the fullest extent, and piercing through the so-called honour or "noble consciousness" with sharp daggers. Authority loses its power, and emptiness takes over everything.

"Leonce und Lena," like Büchner's tragedies "Danton" and "Woyzeck," is entangled in emptiness, plagued and consumed, only able to exclaim, "Every person is an abyss, and when people look down, they often feel dizzy." In the play, "coincidence" is Büchner's way of manipulating the characters, a pure accident and trickery. He establishes comedy only to expand the fig leaf of modesty. Büchner possesses a thorough philosophy of the abyss, and the surging tide of darkness will eventually swallow him.

Since it is all governed by the so-called comedy style, "Black Cat, White Cat" and "Leonce und Lena" have also formed a strange juxtaposition: the former has a core value under its absurd and unrestrained appearance, while the latter hides its heart-wrenching emptiness under its dignified and playful facade. However, "comedy" serves as a robe too vast to outline the body's form—whether it's perceived as warmth or biting mockery. It carries a sense of "meeting with a smile to let go of past grievances" or even embodies the notion of "equality." Comedy has the unique ability to create equality; an equality akin to pawns, a level playing field. The core of comedy lies in the awareness of viewing everything as a game—a game played just once, exhilarating but never to be repeated.

Whether it's a Happy Ending or a Sad Ending, neither is as conclusive as Game Over. However, "Game Over" holds a depth of hurt that might resemble an abyss too daunting to confront directly. When someone reaches that precipice but refuses to leap, their only options might be to feign ignorance or descend into madness. And when we grasp, or believe we grasp, this reality, isn't the reason we continue to give our all the true essence of the game?