History Film / SlidingDoors

Helen Quilley (Creator/GwynethPaltrow) just got fired. And now she missed the [[UsefulNotes/TheLondonUnderground tube train]], too. Some kid was in her way, [[ForWantOfANail slowing her down for a second]].

* KickTheDog: Lydia, who not only makes up a case of food poisoning just so she can harass Helen, but also [[spoiler:pretends she's interested in hiring her, just so Helen will show up at her apartment while Gerry is there so she can reveal Gerry's unfaithfulness to her in the most cruel way possible.]]

* WeAllLiveInAmerica: A small case but Helen and Anna reference ''Jeopardy'', an American game show which does air on some channels in the UK but is unlikely to be talked about casually by two British women.

%%* BritishAccents

* PlotInducingInfidelity: While the two timelines split with Helen missing the titular doors, the more important catalyst for divergence is when the Helen who caught the train walks in on her boyfriend cheating on her.

* {{Flatline}}: Used to show when one of the characters dies in one of the timeliness.

Helen Quilley, played by Gwyneth Paltrow, just got fired. And now she missed the [[UsefulNotes/TheLondonUnderground tube train]], too. Some kid was in her way, [[ForWantOfANail slowing her down for a second]].

%%* BitchAlert: Lydia.

* IronicEcho: In the first time line when James and Helen meet he says "Cheer up, you know what the Creator/MontyPython boys say", and Helen replies "Always look on the bright side?" James then corrects her with "No one expects the Spanish Inquisition." When they meet again in the next time line he says the same thing and Helen responds with the latter line this time.

* ManicPixieDreamGirl: Gender reversed. James is the Manic Pixie Dream Guy for Helen as he helps her to loosen up and enjoy her life, doing kind of silly things.

* AlternateTimeline: Two time lines - one where Helen got to the tube and one where she didn't.
* TheBechdelTest: Passes on a technicality when Lydia accuses Helen of causing a round of food poisoning with her sandwiches. Of course, the viewer knows Lydia is really just picking on Helen for "stealing" her boyfriend, making this a great example of why the Bechdel Test is not the be all and end all of whether or not a movie is feminist-friendly.
* BitchAlert: Lydia.
* BritishAccents

* ForeignRemake: The storyline recycles in a LighterAndFluffier way the plot of an earlier film, ''BlindChance''.

* ManicPixieDreamGirl: Inverted. James is the Manic Pixie Dream Guy for Helen.

* TruthInTelevision: As many people who have ridden the tube can testify, a single second ''can'' make all the difference between catching and missing a train. The tube keeps London moving, and it's not going to stop for you.
* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: Helen uses this for effect when she walks in on Gerry with Lydia. The first thing she remarks on is not [[YourCheatingHeart the fact he's in bed with another woman]], but instead [[SkewedPriorities the fact that she didn't think he liked]] EltonJohn.

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!!Has examples of:

* FakeBrit: Gwyneth Paltrow

* WeAllLiveInAmerica: A small case but Helen and Anna reference ''Jeopardy'', an American game show which does air on some channels in the UK but is unlikely to be talked about casually by two British women.

* HarsherInHindsight: The scene with James saying that his first ever girlfriend when they were both pre-pubescent ended when she left him for Gary Glitter is painful to hear now Glitter has been exposed a sexual abuser of young girls.

* HarsherinHindsight: The scene with James saying that his first ever girlfriend when they were both pre-pubescent ended when she left him for Gary Glitter is painful to hear now Glitter has been exposed a sexual abuser of young girls.

* IronicEcho: In the first time line when James and Helen meet he says "Cheer up, you know what the Creator/MontyPython boys say", and Helen replies "Always look on the bright side?". James then corrects her with "No one expects the Spanish Inquisition". When they meet again in the next time line he says the same thing and Helen responds with the latter line this time.

* LifeWillKillYou: [[AlternateSelf One of the main characters]] is just standing there, having what would have perhaps been the most important conversation in a long and happy life. Suddenly a car runs over her. DownerEnding in one time line, but it is indicated that the trauma of her own death [[FlashSideways helps her]] to get a happy ending in the other time line.

* BottleFairy: Anna. Gerry nearly gets away with the extra wine glass in the laundry basket (left by Lydia) suggesting Anna left it there at one of their house parties. Anna admits it's something she'd probably do.

* IronicEcho: In the first time line when James and Helen meet he says "Cheer up, you know what the Monty Python boys say", and Helen replies "Always look on the bright side?". James then corrects her with "No one expects the Spanish Inquisition". When they meet again in the next time line he says the same thing and Helen responds with the latter line this time.

Helen Quilley, played by Gwyneth Paltrow, just got fired. And now she missed the [[TheLondonUnderground tube train]], too. Some kid was in her way, [[ForWantOfANail slowing her down for a second]].

* TheLondonUnderground: The plot diverges at the main character catching / missing her train at Embankment station, setting off events for the rest of the film (which shows us two parallel lives from that point on). The actual scenes underground were filmed on the Waterloo and City Line.

Helen Quilley, played by Gwyneth Paltrow, just got fired. And now she missed the tube train, too. Some kid was in her way, [[ForWantOfANail slowing her down for a second]].

[[AlternateSelf The Helen who got on the tube]] meet an interesting guy on the tube, and when she gets home she catches her boyfriend cheating. She breaks up and gets an ImportantHaircut, turning blonde.

The Helen who missed the tube gets robbed, and come home to be comforted by a boyfriend who had more time to cover his tracks a bit. She keeps her old hairstyle and remains brunette.

As time goes by, blond Helen and brunette Helen live increasingly different lives. And yet, they seem to somehow remember each other, each of them getting a sense of Deja Vu when encountering something that is important in the counterpart's life.

* AlternateTimeline: Two timelines - one where Helen got o the tram and one where she didn't.

* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: Without the difference in haircut, it would be hard to tell the two timelines apart.

* FlashSideways: Each Helen instinctively picks up o thins important to the other Helen.
* {{Flatline}}: Used to show when one of the characters dies in one of the timelines.

* InSpiteOfANail: [[spoiler: Helen met James. Helen lost her unborn child. Gerry has impregnated Lydia. Helen has found out about Gerry and Lydia and has left Gerry. Which timeline am I talking about?]] It's worth noting that all of those things come true in very different ways and at different times, however.
* IronicEcho: In the first timeline when James and Helen meet he says "cheer up, you know what the Monty Python boys say" and Helen replies "always look on the bright side?", James then corrects her with "no one expects the Spanish Inquisition". When they meet again in the next timeline he says the same thing and Helen responds with the latter line this time.
* LifeWillKillYou: [[AlternateSelf One of the main character]] is just standing there, having what would have perhaps been the most important conversation in a long and happy life. Suddenly a car runs over her. DownerEnding in one timeline, but it is indicated that the trauma of her own death [[FlashSideways helps her]] to get a happy ending in the other timeline.
* LoveTranscendsSpaceTime: Two timelines, two lives, one romance.
* TheLondonUnderground: The plot diverges at the main character catching/missing her train at Embankment station, setting off events for the rest of the film (which shows us two parallel lives from that point on.) The actual scenes underground were filmed on the Waterloo and City Line.

* MissedTheBus: The plot is based on the difference it makes to this woman's life whether she gets or misses a Tube train.
* ServiceSectorStereotypes: The worse-off scenario had the heroine fired from her job to become a waitress/delivery girl for a sandwich bar, much to the delight of her boyfriend's "other woman", who revels in exploiting and insulting her, knowing that her rival can't fight back.

* AllTheMyriadWays
* ButterflyOfDoom

* AlternateTimeline

* FlashSideways

* [[spoiler:LookBothWays]]
* LoveTranscendsSpaceTime
* MirrorMonologue: {{Lampshaded}} after Gerry almost had his "secret romance" revealed to his live-in girlfriend: