Sliding Doors by Peter Howitt (1998) is a film that explores the events that take place in the life of Helen (Gwyneth Paltrow) after she simultaneously catches and misses the train. Throughout the film, sliding doors appear as a pattern and signify that an important event is about to happen or has occurred in Helen's life. By manipulating the range of story information and mise-en-scène, Howitt is able to juxtapose Helen and James (John Hannah) with Gerry (John Lynch) and Lydia (Jeanne Tripplehorn) to ultimately create a stronger loyalty between the audience and Helen and James. Each of the four central characters, Helen, James, Gerry and Lydia, can be recognized by individual and distinct traits that differentiate them from each other. The protagonist, Helen, is a hard-working woman with relatively low self-confidence, often skeptical of people and good news that come into her life. After losing her job, Helen works many part-time jobs to make ends meet and, in parallel, starts her own public relations firm. James is a nice and successful man who does everything to cheer Helen up and even has her company. However, James is not entirely honest with Helen, because he hides the fact that he is married to Claudia. Gerry, unlike James, can be characterized as a fickle man who depends on Helen for support and is deceitful at the same time. Gerry's inability to choose between Helen and Lydia, constant lies to Helen and even Russell, and lack of income are all factors that contribute to his characterization. Lydia is the exact opposite of Helen. She is an aggressive and devious woman who is emotionally dependent on Gerry. His constant phone calls, plots to inform Helen of the affair, and stalkerish tendencies add to his "li...... middle of paper ......ry and Lydia, simultaneously making them root for the relationship between Helen and James. Elements of mise-en-scène, such as lighting, choice of clothing, and setting, help to reinforce this contrast. Although the film represents a relatively short period in Helen's life, they occur during this time many life-changing events. Howitt highlights these important events with the image of sliding doors, thus returning to the film's central theme of chance, possibility and change. Our loyalty to Helen is inevitable, as we follow her story and we are led to understand his motivations and agree with them; therefore, it is the loyalty, or non-loyalty, to the other characters that Howitt must work hardest to elicit in the audience and he does so by manipulating each character's actions to satisfy his needs and get a certain reaction from the audience..