MovieChat Forums > Sliding Doors (1998) Discussion > The only thing i dont get is.

The only thing i dont get is.

posted 9 years ago by pennilayne
4 replies | jump to latest

When she wakes up in the hospital .. there are flashes of the diner and the bridge from her alternate life... almost as if she dreamed the wonderful alternate "if i had caught the train and dated James life" and so thats why when she wakes up, the whole parallel universe thing was her actually being in a short koma, and the blonde helen story was her dreaming. The only thing that led me to beleive that was those flashes she saw. If not why did they show those ? Because if they didnt show those, I would just believe, ok thats what would have happened had she caught the train, but she didnt, so it ended with the reality of what happened, but fate is fate and she was meant to meet James some way or another so she met him at the hospital (again) and they recognized eachother and thats why they looked at eachother like seriously? again? and it implies pretty much everything that happened in her better world will play out like it did, yadda yadda. So im pissed they showed those flashes!? It just confuses me more. Its already confusing and ambiguous enough. The ending actually has enough potential for many different conclusions... I hate when they do that. Im up for creativity and cool ideas but I hate when writers are like oh yeah lets make this something where it could be 15 different things because we are that pretentious. Ughhh. What do you guys think?

[–] That-Writer-Girl 9 years ago

I never thought of it being coma-induced visions. It could be from what you're saying and I agree, it should have been made clearer.

That is sort of frustrating.

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*I Write Things*

[–] SillyGayBoy 8 years ago

Two alternate realities. Ultimately in both she gets pregnant and loses the baby. One she makes it and one she doesn't. Both she finds out he is a cheater somehow. In both she meets the right man somehow but it continues in different ways. "Everything always works out."

[–] Dan_Garten 8 years ago

Yeah.

[–] infinity8 8 years ago

There seems to be a connection between Helens. Blonde Helen and Brunette Helen speak to each other. Because Blonde Helen senses a world where she is still with Gerry, she considers going back to him and may have gone back to him had Lydia not called. Because Brunette Helen can feel that Blonde Helen has discovered Gerry's infidelity, she suspects that her Gerry is cheating and doesn't feel right telling him about the baby. It's also possible that it is fated for certain things to happen to both Helens at a certain time. For instance, both Helens get pregnant at the same time, both suffer serious accidents at the same time, etc. The end result of these particular events is determined by chance, however--small changes make a big difference, in the way that the course of Helen's life is changed by her making or not making her train.

The idea that things always work out for the best appeared early in the movie, and it seems to be the controlling force behind what happens to both Helens. When Blonde Helen dies, it's only after she finds out the truth about James, and James is obviously not sorry to have met Helen since he tells her that he's happy to have met her before she dies. Helen is able to die knowing that she is loved, and James feels grateful that he met such a special woman and had a little time with her.

As far as Brunette Helen goes, her life likely turns out even better than Blonde Helen since she dumps Gerry and goes on to meet James. The way Brunette Helen looks at James in the elevator suggests that she recognizes him somehow. That's because she does; she recognizes him from Blonde Helen's life. She even seems to know his favorite Monty Python line whereas Blonde Helen didn't know the line until James told it to her. Brunette Helen may not completely understand what's happening when she meets James, but she knows that he's important and feels a sort of soul mate connection with him.

Both Helens end up with happy endings, even if Blonde Helen dies earlier than is absolutely ideal.