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''Sliding Doors'' is a 1998 British-American romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Peter Howitt and starring Gwyneth Paltrow and John Hannah, while also featuring John Lynch, Jeanne Tripplehorn and Virginia McKenna. The film alternates between two parallel universes, based on the two paths the central character's life could take depending on whether or not she catches a train and causing different outcomes in her life. ==Plot== Helen Quilley (Gwyneth Paltrow) gets fired from her public relations job. As she leaves the building she drops an earring in the lift – a man retrieves it for her. She rushes for her train on the London Underground and misses it. The plot then splits into two parallel universes, the other detailing the separate path her life would have taken had she caught that train. In the timeline in which she boards the train, she sits alongside James (John Hannah) (the man in the lift) on the Underground and they strike up a conversation. She gets home in time to catch her boyfriend, Gerry (John Lynch), in bed with his American ex-girlfriend, Lydia (Jeanne Tripplehorn); she dumps him and moves in with her friend Anna (Zara Turner), and changes her appearance to make a fresh start (Paltrow's hair style is used to differentiate both storylines for the audience). James continues to serendipitously pop into Helen's life, cheering her up and encouraging her to start her own public relations firm. She and James fall in love despite Helen's reservations about beginning another relationship so soon after her ugly breakup with Gerry. Eventually, Helen discovers that she is pregnant, believing it is James' child, and goes to see him at his office. She is stunned to learn from James' secretary that he is married. Upset, she disappears. James finds her on a bridge and explains that he ''was'' married but is now separated and planning a divorce. He and his soon-to-be-ex-wife maintain the appearance of a happy marriage for the sake of his sick mother. After she and James declare their love, Helen walks out into the road and is hit by a van. In the timeline in which Helen misses the train, subsequent services are delayed; she exits the station and hails a taxi. As she does so, a man tries to snatch her handbag. Helen is injured in the scuffle and goes to hospital. She arrives home after Lydia has left, oblivious to Gerry's infidelity. She takes two part-time jobs to pay the bills. Gerry continues to juggle the two women in his life; Lydia even interacts with Helen on several occasions. Helen has a number of conflicts with Gerry but discovers that she is pregnant. She never manages to tell him, but does tell him she has a job interview with an international PR firm. Gerry, thinking Helen is at her interview, goes to see Lydia, also pregnant with his child, at her apartment. While at Lydia's, Gerry answers the doorbell and sees Helen standing at the door; she is stunned to see Gerry, while Lydia tells her she cannot do the interview because she is "deciding whether or not to keep () boyfriend's baby." Distraught, Helen runs off and falls down Lydia's staircase while trying to flee Gerry. In both storylines, Helen is taken to hospital and loses her baby. In the timeline where she originally boarded the train, she dies in the arms of her new-found love, James; in the timeline in which she missed it, she recovers and tells Gerry to leave for good. Before waking, she sees brief visions of the alternate Helen's life in a dream. In the final scene (now taking place in the original "missed train" universe), James is leaving the hospital after visiting his mother, and Helen is leaving after ending her relationship with Gerry. James enters the lift and as the doors close, he sees Helen approaching and presses the door open button so she can enter. Helen drops an earring in the lift and it is picked up by James, mirroring the start of the film. Before the doors close, James tells Helen to cheer up, and repeats his line, "You know what the Monty Python boys say..." Helen (who, in the beginning of the film, assumed the rejoinder to be "always look on the bright side of life.") says, "Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition". She and James stare at one another, each surprised by her response. The lift doors close, leaving the audience to speculate whether it was fate or coincidence that brought Helen and James together under these circumstances. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Sliding Doors」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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