Sliding Doors

What if one split second sent your life in two completely different directions?

6.6
19981h 39m

Helen, a London ad executive, is fired from her job and rushes out to catch a train, but, as she runs down, her life suddenly splits off. In one version she catches the train; in the second, she misses it. Her whole life changes in that one second, and the rest of the film depicts what happens in each scenario.

Production

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Available For Free On

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Trailers & Videos

Thumbnail for video: Official Trailer

Official Trailer

Thumbnail for video: Trailer Sliding Doors (1998) - IMDb.mp4

Trailer Sliding Doors (1998) - IMDb.mp4

Cast

Photo of Gwyneth Paltrow

Gwyneth Paltrow

Helen Quilley

Photo of John Hannah

John Hannah

James Hamilton

Photo of Nina Young

Nina Young

Claudia

Photo of Virginia McKenna

Virginia McKenna

James' Mother

Photo of Terry English

Terry English

Kind Cabbie

Photo of Paul Stacey

Paul Stacey

Man on Tube

Photo of Peter Howitt

Peter Howitt

Cheeky Bloke

Photo of Neil Stuke

Neil Stuke

Defensive Bloke

Photo of Evelyn Duah

Evelyn Duah

Receptionist

Photo of Linda Broughton

Linda Broughton

Theatre Nurse

Photo of Pip Miller

Pip Miller

Consultant

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Reviews

J

JPV852

8/10

Well made romance-drama featuring nice performances from Gwyneth Paltrow and John Hannah. I've seen this a few times over the years and still holds up (outside of the dated technological items). Also was an interesting concept which kudos to Peter Hewitt pulled off. **3.75/5**

G

CinemaSerf

6/10

I remember all the fuss about this film at the time because it was directed by blonde heart-throb Peter Howitt, famed as “Joey” from the hit BBC sitcom “Bread”. Ha also wrote the screenplay and the concept is really quite decent. “Helen” (Gwyneth Paltrow) leaves her boyfriend “Gerry” (John Lynch) in bed and races for a tube. The doors are closing but will she make it or not? Well in one version of her future she does and in another, she doesn’t. One sees her befriend the charismatic “James” (John Hannah); the other sees her struggle on with her relationship with a man that we know, right from the start, is having a relationship with the delightfully dislikeable “Lydia” (Jeanne Tripplehorn). Fortunately, Miss Paltrow sports different hairstyles to help us distinguish between her characters as serendipity - benevolent and malign - offers us two shapes to her life that overlap occasionally but leave us in no doubt that “Gerry” is a selfish ass and that “James” is the type you’d want to take home to meet mum. The problem for me was that once we had got the two stories up and running, they became just a bit too soapy. Of course it would never have worked had all gone smoothly, but the grenades thrown in to disrupt love’s young dream and even love’s young treachery are all just a bit too predictable. That said, though, I did quite like the way the last five minutes were structured to mix the conclusion with a little déjà vu. It’s a film about choices, some informed and some not and it’s also about trust and how easily it is to betray and manipulate in a relationship where trust is assumed but not deserved. Hannah probably has the best of the gentle humour and there’s just enough of that; some energetic rowing and even some sexually-charged brandy-swilling to keep it watchable.

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