Sliding Doors

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

1998 1h 39m EN

👍

6.5

SOLID

★6.5TMDB · 1,456

ComedyDramaFantasyRomance

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

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.

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

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Cast

Gwyneth Paltrow
Helen Quilley
John Hannah
James Hamilton
John Lynch
Gerry
Jeanne Tripplehorn
Lydia
Zara Turner
Anna
Douglas McFerran
Russell
Paul Brightwell
Clive
Nina Young
Claudia

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Peter Howitt
Writers: Peter Howitt, Douglas Ingram
Languages: English
Countries: United Kingdom, United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 9.8× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

28 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: United Kingdom, United States of America.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Peter Howitt, shot by Remi Adefarasin. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by David Hirschfelder. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor John Smith shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Gwyneth Paltrow and John Hannah and John Lynch carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "What if one split second sent your life in two completely different directions?".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Peter Howitt directs. Remi Adefarasin behind the camera. David Hirschfelder scores. John Smith cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United Kingdom, United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Made its money back 9.8× over at the box office.
228 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3International production across 2 countries: United Kingdom, United States of America.
4Directed by Peter Howitt, shot by Remi Adefarasin. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by David Hirschfelder. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor John Smith shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Gwyneth Paltrow and John Hannah and John Lynch carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "What if one split second sent your life in two completely different directions?".
9IMDB entry: tt0120148 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 14 themes, including "london, england", "ex-girlfriend", "in flagranti", "fate".

The technical file

Cinematography: Remi Adefarasin
Original score: David Hirschfelder
Editing: John Smith
Production design: Maria Djurkovic
Makeup / hair: Tina Earnshaw
Sound: Chris Jenkins
Stunt coordinator: Helen Caldwell
Runtime: 99 min · 1h 39m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $6,000,000
Box office: $58,809,149
Return: 980% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG-13
IMDB: Sliding Doors (1998)

Awards

European Film Award for Best Screenwriter

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Peter Howitt

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

JPV8522019-12-31
★ 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
CinemaSerf2025-12-21
★ 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.