71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance
1994 · Movie · NR · 100 min · ★ 7.0 · 66% critics
The film unfolds through 71 scenes following multiple Viennese residents caught up by chance in a senseless gun slaughter on Christmas Eve. Their lives intersect in fragments, building a tense, grim portrait of ordinary people drawn into catastrophe.
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Streaming on The Criterion Channel — or rent from $2.99.
2 hours to watch.
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Details
- Original title
- 71 Fragmente einer Chronologie des Zufalls
- Years
- 1994
- Release date
- 1995-03-10
- Language
- German
- Rated
- NR
- Runtime
- 100 min
- Critic score
- 66/100
- TMDB rating
- 7.0/10 (203 votes)
About
You’ll likely like this if you enjoy dark, chance-driven ensemble narratives and grim holiday tension; Not for you if you want a straightforward story, lighter themes, or comfort viewing, especially compared with Code Unknown and Before the Fall.
Pros: gripping interconnected scenes; tense Christmas setting; many perspectives | Cons: bleak subject matter; fragmented structure; difficult tone
Themes
- suicide
- bank
- adoption
- beggar
- based on true story
- fate
- multiple time frames
- orphan
- vienna, austria
- told in flashback
- news
- detached
- +8 more
Awards & recognition
- Gold Hugo · 1994
- Sitges Film Festival Best Feature-Length Film award · 1994
- Sitges Film Festival Best Screenplay award · 1994
Cast & crew
- GU
Gabriel Cosmin Urdes
as Marian Radu
Lukas Miko
as Max
- OG
Otto Grünmandl
as Tomek
Anne Bennent
as Inge Brunner
Udo Samel
as Paul Brunner
Dorothee Hartinger
as Kristina
Branko Samarovski
as Hans
Claudia Martini
as Maria
Georg Friedrich
Alexander Pschill
as Hanno
Directed by Michael Haneke