ABSTRACT
In Frank Capra’s movie It’s a Wonderful Life, George Bailey gets a second chance at living after his attempted suicide. With the help of his guardian angel he realizes how dismal life would be for his loved ones and his home town had he never existed. This epiphany makes George realize that suicide is not the answer to his problems and the film ends happily on Christmas with its protagonist shouting “Merry Christmas” in the streets of Bedford Falls. As joyful friends and neighbors pour into his home offering money, his adorable daughter declares, “Every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings” (Capra 1946). Just two years after this classic film was released, another with a similar premise debuted in France, entitled Les jeux sont faits. In the latter film, star-crossed lovers Pierre and Eve are also given a second chance at life, but in characteristically Sartrean fashion, things do not end happily for the protagonists. What both films have in common is an exploration of what could have been, as their protagonists embark on their mystical journeys of possibility and choice. At a sort of nexus of time and facticity, these characters are given a magical advantage over others, though only George Bailey makes it work in his favor. Jean-Paul Sartre’s characters Pierre and Eve, on the other hand, remain too focused on their personal projects to love each other enough to save themselves. The two lovers are each faced with the terrible and impossible choice of having a perfect love versus saving themselves and the people they care for.
