Sliding Doors poster

1998·99 min·Released

Sliding Doors

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

Comedy
Drama
Fantasy
Romance

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.

6.6(1,423 votes)

Popularity3

Videos

Official Trailer

Cast & Crew

Gwyneth Paltrow

Gwyneth Paltrow

Helen Quilley

John Hannah

John Hannah

James Hamilton

John Lynch

John Lynch

Gerry

Jeanne Tripplehorn

Jeanne Tripplehorn

Lydia

Zara Turner

Zara Turner

Anna

Douglas McFerran

Douglas McFerran

Russell

Paul Brightwell

Paul Brightwell

Clive

Nina Young

Nina Young

Claudia

Virginia McKenna

Virginia McKenna

James' Mother

Kevin McNally

Kevin McNally

Paul

Theresa Kartell

Theresa Kartell

Rachael

Christopher Villiers

Christopher Villiers

Steve

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JPV852

Written on 12/31/2019

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**

CinemaSerf

Written on 12/21/2025

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.

Media

Official Trailer

Official Trailer

Trailer Sliding Doors (1998) - IMDb.mp4

Trailer Sliding Doors (1998) - IMDb.mp4