Random Hearts (novel)

Random Hearts
Directed by	Sydney Pollack Denis L. Stewart (1st Ass't)
Written by	Warren Adler (novel) Darryl Ponicsan (adaptation) Kurt Luedtke (screenplay)
Produced by	Martin Jurow & Marykay Powell
Starring	Harrison Ford Kristin Scott Thomas
Cinematography	Philippe Rousselot
Edited by	William Steinkamp
Music by	Dave Grusin
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release dates	October 8, 1999
Running time	133 min.
Language	English

Random Hearts is a 1984 novel by American author Warren Adler that was made into a 1999 American motion picture drama and romance.

Random Hearts

Cover to Stonehouse edition of Random Hearts
Author	Warren Adler
Language	English
Genre	Fiction
Publisher	Stonehouse
Publication date	1984
Publication place	USA
Media type	Hardcover/Paperback/E-Text
Pages	293 pages
ISBN	ISBN 0025002902 (hardcover)

Plot summary

Vivien Simpson and Edward Davis had never met before, but soon they would be inseparable. Their respective spouses had been carrying on an affair for some time. The affair abruptly ended when their plane to Miami crashes moments after take off. Vivien believed her husband was off to Paris for business. Edward thought his wife was in L.A. Once the bodies are identified, the knowledge they were traveling together is imparted on Vivien and Edward.

They are consumed with curiosity, but no one is alive to answer the most simple of questions; how long it had gone on, where they had met, and why would they lie? All that remains of the love affair is a set of nearly unidentifiable keys. Neither Vivien nor Edward knows what they belong to. More than anything else, they want to know. Compelled by misplaced anger and grief, they center their lives around discovering what their spouses kept from them.

What they ignore most of all is the budding love between the two of them, and perhaps that is what keeps them going. They may have been damaged by their spouses, but they certainly not beyond repair.

Then, suddenly, a man shoots Edward. The man is arrested while Edward is rushed to the hospital. He is promoted to lieutenant just because he got shot. Vivien fails to win the election.

Major themes

Grief is the undeniable main theme of the novel. It tackles how a person lives from the moment they lose the person most important to them. But they have little room to be sad, as the sense of betrayal is overwhelming.

Typical of most of Adler’s work, love is inescapable. It is the redeeming factor that keeps these two characters from sinking into an abyss.

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

In 1999, Random Hearts was adapted to into a film of the same name by Sidney Pollack and starring Harrison Ford and Kristin Scott Thomas.

It tells the story of a man and a woman who meet when their loved ones are killed in a plane crash. They find each other's keys in their spouse's possessions and realize that they were having an affair. The story evolves around the relationship between the two survivors.

File:Random hearts DVD.jpg

Random Hearts DVD cover

Primary cast

• Harrison Ford  : Sergeant William 'Dutch' Van Den Broeck
• Kristin Scott Thomas  : Kay Chandler
• Charles S. Dutton  : Alcee
• Bonnie Hunt  : Wendy Judd
• Dennis Haysbert  : Detective George Beaufort
• Sydney Pollack  : Carl Broman
• Richard Jenkins  : Truman Trainor
• Paul Guilfoyle  : Dick Montoya
• Susanna Thompson  : Peyton Van Den Broeck
• Peter Coyote  : Cullen Chandler
• Dylan Baker  : Richard Judd
• Lynne Thigpen  : Phyllis Bonaparte
• Reiko Aylesworth  : Mary Claire Clark
• Edie Falco  : Janice
• Alex Trebek  : Jeopardy! Host

External links

• Random Hearts at the Internet Book List
• Random Hearts at IMDb
• Official Website
• Read the first chapter