Sliding Doors Review
by Seth Bookey (sethbook AT panix DOT com)May 7th, 1998
Sliding Doors
(UK, 1998)
Seen on 25 April 1998 with Andrea at the SONY Lincoln Square for $10 (including teleticket fee).
*Sliding Doors* takes a look at what would happen if you missed your train by a few seconds. Helen (Gwyneth Paltrow) goes to work one morning, only to find out she's been sacked and then goes to take the District Line tube home. (By now you must've figured the film is set in London). After missing her train, the camera backs up to the moment a young girl got in the way and takes her out of the way, so Helen can get on the train. Henceforth, the movie skillfully alternates between the tale of Helen coming home to find her boyfriend Gerry (John Lynch) in bed with his old girlfriend Lydia (Jeanne Tripplehorn), and the tale of her just having missed that scene.
So, the stories ensue in similar paths. The outraged Helen
moves out, dyes her hair blonde (this helps distinguish the two storylines), and gets involved with James (John Hannah of *Four Weddings and a Funeral*) as she starts her own PR company, and deals with Gerry wanting her back.
In the other storyline, the cuckolded Helen struggles along waiting tables and working two jobs while Gerry "writes his novel" and continues to cheat on Helen with Lydia, who is pressing for him to make a break with Helen.
A lot of women I know just hate Gwyneth Palthrow (she's "too beautiful" or something), but Sliding Doors might change their minds. She gives an engaging, fresh performance to both "realities" shown in the film. John Hannah (who has a delightful Scottish accent) is equally wonderful as James. The supporting roles of Anna (played by another Scot, Zara Turner) and Russell (Douglas McFerran) as Helen and Gerry's best friends (respectively) also do a wonderful job. McFerran is particularly good in his role as Gerry's amused but unsympathetic confessor.
Lynch and Tripplehorn, especially the latter, are a bit over the top as the panicky cheat and the bitchy American lover. But they are not so over the top that it destroys the romantic comedy mood created by first-time director and writer Peter Howitt. It was very surprising to discover that he had never directed before. Some of the night scenes on the Thames with the lights of a suspension bridge on the Thames are among the best ever seen in a romantic comedy.
*Sliding Doors* features many funny moments as well as touching, romantic ones. One of my favorite lines came from Tripplehorn, who tells Gerry, "We know what we want, but we don't tell you what we want, but we reserve the right to get angry when you don't know. That's what makes us so fascinating, and so scary!" In another, as Russell laughs at Gerry's plight, he tells him, "If it weren't for you I don't know how I'd make it a whole week before the next Seinfeld."
As ever, I recommend you see it on the big screen, especially for the full effect of the night scenes on the Thames.
----------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright (c) 1998, Seth J. Bookey, New York, NY 10021 [email protected]; http://www.panix.com/~sethbook
More movie reviews by Seth Bookey, with graphics, can be found at http://www.geocities.com/Athens/2679/kino.html
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
