Feature Friday: Sliding Doors

For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Every day, we make hundreds of decisions that dictate the outcome of that day. More often than not, we are never aware of what would happen had we made a different decision.

What if we had chosen not to take Central that night, had not gotten caught in the gridlock there, made it to the restaurant early instead of late, and ended up meeting the person that could change your life forever?

Or, how about if we had not decided to wait on the coffee maker for an extra two minutes for that fresh cup and had been 3 people ahead in line and had bought the winning $240 Million Lotto Ticket?

Or, what if we had just been 30 seconds earlier, and had caught that train?

Title: Sliding Doors
Year: 1998
Director: Peter Howitt
Staring: Gwyneth Paltrow, John Hannah, John Lynch, Zara Turner, Douglas McFerran, Paul Brightwell, Jeanne Tripplehorn

It's been a bad day for Helen Quilley (Paltrow). Her birthday was over the weekend, and she and her friends partied a little too much, so she's running late, as usual; her live-in, unemployed, writer boyfriend (Lynch) gets to sleep in; and when she gets to her public relations job, she finds herself let go because she helped herself to four bottles of company vodka the Friday before, leaving none for the V.I.P.'s who stopped by the office on Saturday night.

Oh, and the boyfriend's cheating on her, in her bed. Only she doesn't know this...yet.

A devastated Helen stumbles her way to the train station, has to maneuver around a little girl, and just misses the train. Then, the movie makes a unique turn. We get to see time rewind itself to the point of Helen running the stairs, just as before, only this time the little girl's mother pulls her aside, allowing Helen to catch the train just the doors are sliding shut.

From here on out, we see Helen's life as both versions of reality play out. In Version A, Helen misses her train and has to settle on a taxi ride instead. Just before she gets in, a young man tries to steal her purse, resulting in a nasty bump and cut on her forehead. Stuck at the hospital all afternoon, she gets home just minutes after Lydia (Tripplehorn), Gerry's American ex-girlfriend leaves the apartment. Still having to support both herself and Gerry, Helen takes on two jobs to make ends meet, grows ever weary of Gerry's behavior, and must come to terms about becoming pregnant.

In Version B, Helen does make the train, where she takes a seat next to charming James (Hannah). After finding out about her being fired, James helps to cheer her up. Finally able to smile after her troublesome morning, Helen returns home to catch Gerry and Lydia in the act. Furious and heartbroken, she makes her way to the local pub, where she runs into James and his friend Clive (Brightwell). Later that night, when Helen's best friend Anna (Turner) arrives to take her home, James offers the two a ride. Over the course of a few weeks, with Anna's and James' help, Helen heals and takes her life back, changing her appearance and setting up a new outlook for herself. She finds herself falling for James, despite not wanting too. But James is harboring a secret that may destroy all the groundwork Helen has made thus far.

I don't know about you, but I love movies that make you think. It's rare that I find one with great writing, great acting, and a premise that sparks in-depth conversation afterwards. That, plus I'm a sucker for an good accent (preferably New Zealand or Australian, but English will do in a pinch).

This was 1998, and Gwyneth Paltrow was following up her acclaimed 1996 performance in Emma. It was shortly before her Oscar win, and long before the produce came into the picture. No, this was back when most people only knew Gwyneth because she and Brad had just split.

I find that I like most of her roles. And, while I don't think she deserved Best Actress for Shakespeare In Love, I did enjoy her performance quite a bit. Same here. She gives Helen a quirkiness and real world quality that you instantly bond with. You know this girl, or someone a lot like her. She gets to play the full spectrum of emotions and you generally feel for her and want things to turn out right for her. As well you should. The movie IS about her, after all.

Scottish actor John Hannah is wonderful in this film. Though known to a few from Four Weddings and a Funereal, most American audiences didn't discover him until his turn in 1998's The Mummy. Hannah brings a fresh face to the leading man staple, and he wins you over with his boyish charm. He's funny and real, a good combination to have in an actor. However, Hannah knows when to tune it down a couple of notches, so as to come off as natural, and not acting. Wonderful performance. I'd like to see more from him.

What love story would be complete without "the other woman?" Jeanne Tripplehorn is a delight. Her Lydia has a difficult role to play. She is the ex-girlfriend recently returned to get her man back. But she can't help but check out the competition. Her character really doesn't have much of an arc in the movie, so Tripplehorn plays every scene as far as she wants, awesomely taking her performance over the top and dragging poor John Lynch along with her.

And speaking of Lynch, his Gerry is my least favorite in in the movie. I'm not sure if he wasn't well written, or if Lynch just wasn't on par with everyone else around him. You never once feel anything but seething hatred toward him. I can understand this, he IS the bad guy here, but I never saw any reason why Helen was with him in the first place. I think it would have helped to have seen some of what she thought was so great about him, so that his betrayal would have that much more impact.

Rounding out the cast are the best mates to Helen and Gerry, Anna and Russell, respectively. Zara Turner plays the typical best friend to Helen and has some wonderful lines at Lynch's expense. She's tough and strong and hates to see her friend hurt. She's the type of person you like to have on speed-dial whenever life takes a turn you weren't expecting. And Douglas McFerran is that one college buddy we all still have. The one who tries to be the voice of reason, but only after you've already done the wrong thing. And he can't help but find the humor in said situation. McFerran has fun with his role, and does his best to be Gerry's conscience; but without much help from Lynch, the character of Russell comes off as very one note. Still, it's fun to laugh right along with him.

This is one of those great little movies to watch when it's cold and rainy outside. Curl up on the couch with a cup of hot chocolate and let the story play out in front of you. And, if when it's over, you want to play What If? and rethink a couple of your decisions? Just remember, choose wisely.

-Jos

"Choices are the hinges of destiny." ~Edwin Markham