The Universe Told Me To Do It 

Juliette Binoche in Clouds of Sils Maria. Image via LA Weekly

Sunday morning I took my usually very leisurely breakfast (two runny poached eggs, toast with cheese and prosciutto, grapefruit and cafe au lait) to another level of leisure by lying on the couch and perusing some magazines I hadn’t yet read. I found myself trying to unpack this sort of obtuse and vaguely academic article about the film Clouds of Sils Maria from Cinema Scope (No. 61). Interesting. Curious. The film stars Juliette Binoche as a veteran film star revisiting the play that had been her breakthrough role 20 years before. Kristen Stewart plays her assistant in the film and something that becomes apparent is both actors are playing roles that, in many ways, reflect themselves in real life at their current stage of life. I couldn’t help but think I’d seen this film advertised somewhere recently. Netflix, iTunes, Bell On Demand? Nope. It was playing at the TIFF Lightbox that very evening. Funny coincidence. Later when I decided to clear up the breakfast dishes, I listened to the first podcast in the queue which just happened to be KCRW’s The Treatment (a podcast about film and filmmakers) with an interview with Kristen Stewart discussing her role in Clouds of Sils Maria. Okay, reading an article about a film and seeing it was playing in a local theatre isn’t too odd, but turning on a random podcast to hear an interview about the same film seems like the Universe telling me to go see it. It seems unwise to turn down such an invitation.

Similarly on Friday night, I got home and hit the couch for a nap, not thinking about going out or anything. Instead, for some reason, I noticed a book on the self that I had not looked at for some time. It’s called In the Studio and features a collection of notable comic book artists and asked them about their process and their influences. One artist was Canadian comic book artist Seth.


Clip from the NFB documentary Seth's Dominion

After setting the book aside I started thinking about supper and casually looked at my phone to see a reply to a tweet (yes, I randomly check Twitter) which said a documentary about Seth - Seth's Dominion, would be screening at the TIFF Lightbox and the artist and director would be in attendance. I looked at my watch – I had 24 minutes to get there (supper be damned). I hopped on my bike and sped down Richmond, jumped off at John, locked up my bike and ran past a throng of film goers and volunteers to the box office. I had gone to the wrong box office so I had to run to another, where they didn’t take debit but cash only. One dash to an ATM later, back to the box office, and I had a ticket in hand. I ran up the escalator and found I had a full minute to spare. I guess it was during this time I noticed the ad for Clouds of Sils Maria. Sometimes the Universe talks to you, and when it does, you should listen.