A good young woman in terrible trouble, a good man who tries to save her, her fixation with him, their ultimate union in death or dreamland. chance encounters, chance events that change everything, problems of self-identity; all of these and especially, the scene that is repeated in Run Lola Run and The Princess and the Warrior, and Heaven. In this scene, a person, usually the female lead, is seen from the camera's POV (in the middle of the street) crossing the street while a large vehicle looms behind her - will it hit her, or stop just in time? In RLR of course, the plot is reversed, with Lola giving her all to save Matti, but that scene is repeated several times, sometimes with Lola, sometimes with Matti, depending on what version of the run we are seeing. Sissi, in TPATW, is accidently hit by the huge truck, her life is saved by the man who caused the truck to swerve, he is able to save her life because it happens that he knows how to do emergency tracheotomies. Life is a series of accidents, apparently. Is he trying to make this cliche of film making new again - and then into a cliche again? Perhaps we have seen the end of it, though. In Heaven, Phillipa steps into the street on the way to her bombing mission and must jump back to avoid being hit by a small sportscar. It seems to be Tykwer's self-referential joke and a hint that even he has had enough of the image.
In Deadly Maria, the Nice Man Next Door (whose name I forget) is too late to save Maria. Happy chances have passed her by, only the first unhappy chance, of being her father's daughter, has formed her life. Even the bus that almost hits her as she crosses the street stops just in time, might just as well have knocked her down - a happy break, however, for the driver. The NMND may still save her, but what are the odds?
