Sliding Doors

• Cat.no: PLFEB 37771
• Cert: 15
• Running time: 96 minutes
• Sides: 2 (CLV)
• Year: 1998
• Pressing: 1999
• Chapters: 20 (10/10)
• Sound: Dolby Surround
• Widescreen: 1.85:1
• Price: £19.99
• Extras : Original Trailer
  

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  Director:

  Peter Howitt

Cast:

Gwyneth Paltrow
John Hannah
John Lynch
Jeanne Tripplehorn

Therehave been surprisingly few movies exploring parallel timelinesresulting from turning points in their life of a character which couldgo one of several ways. The three Back To The Future movies touch onthis idea to some small degree. More pertinently if less widely seen,Krzysztof Kieslowski‘s masterpiece Blind Chance (incredibly neverreleased theatrically in the UK) shows a man running to catch a train,missing the same train, or colliding with a woman on the stationplatform – each of which alternatives lead to his living threecompletely different lives. British entry Sliding Doors – an impressivefirst feature by former TV actor Peter Howitt – follows a similar path,with sacked London PR person Helen (Paltrow) bumping into stranger James(Hannah) in a lift before alternately catching or missing (being shutout of by sliding doors) a tube at Embankment station, showing us the twodifferent paths her life could follow as a result.

One: catching the train, Helen again meets nice guy James then arriveshome unexpectedly to find live in partner Gerry (Lynch) and his formergirlfriend Lydia (Tripplehorn) going at it hammer and tongs. Utteringthe legend, “I got sacked today – so, it would seem, did you”, she walksout, and before long is going out with Hannah and running her own PRcompany.

Two: missing the train, Helen is mugged walking home, gets patched up inhospital and arrives home to find Gerry in the shower. No instant walkout, no second meeting with James (at least, not until the very end ofthe film) and soon a new job delivering sandwiches to offices.

It would be so easy to screw this up, but writer-director Howitt, wiselylimiting his disparate elements to a minimum, juggles them effectively,even allowing for such delicious moments as, Helen on platform as Helendeparts in moving tube carriage and Helen waitressing at Helen’s firstmajor PR launch. The device of having the train-catching Helen changeher hairdo may be obvious but it’s nonetheless effective and helpsdistinguish the two Helens, not least when they appear together.

The film contains no earpopping sound effects work, surround orotherwise, and nothing spectacular on the picture front either (thereare some beautiful shots of the Thames, though). Purists should notethat the film is correctly widescreened at 1.85:1 (trust me, I saw it inthe cinema), even though the trailer included here is presented in2.35:1 – what happened there, I wonder? As if to prove the point, the2.35:1 trailer actually looks wrong, with the black bars top and bottomcropping the visuals to make them feel cramped, whereas the feature in1.85:1 looks satisfying throughout.

Finding a suitable side break is a difficult proposition: Pioneer havesensibly opted for an abrupt scene end at 49.06 which cuts away fromnoisy background sound to start side two on a quiet scene. The onlyalternative – more dramatically satisfying but technically a closer (ifnot impossible) call ending side one at 62.53 – would have been to breakthe side at the point currently 13.47 into side two, where Lydia slamsthe hotel room door as she walks out. But the sidebreak Pioneer havechosen is fine.

An effective little film, then: nice to see make it onto laserdisc whilethe format is still with us.

Film: 4/5
Picture: 4/5
Sound: 3/5